Biography
Filmography - directed
Spirits United
2018 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Exodus
2014 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Tokyo Giants
2012 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Moving Stories
2011 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental, Shorts
Invader, The
2011 - Nicolas Provost - Features
Storyteller
2010 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental, Shorts
Stardust
2010 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental, Shorts
Title Safe III
2007 - Thierry De Mey, Jan Vromman, Fien Troch, Nicolas Provost, Walter Verdin, Sophie Nys, Jos de Gruyter en Harald Thys, Monodot, Elke Boon - Experimental
Gravity
2007 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Plot Point
2007 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Induction
2007 - Nicolas Provost - Shorts
Divers, The
2006 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Exoticore
2004 - Nicolas Provost - Shorts
Oh Dear
2004 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental, Shorts
Butterfly Of Love
2003 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Filmography - produced
Spirits United
2018 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Exodus
2014 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Tokyo Giants
2012 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Moving Stories
2011 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental, Shorts
Stardust
2010 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental, Shorts
Storyteller
2010 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental, Shorts
Plot Point
2007 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Exoticore
2004 - Nicolas Provost - Shorts
Oh Dear
2004 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental, Shorts
Butterfly Of Love
2003 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Filmography - written
Spirits United
2018 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Exodus
2014 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Tokyo Giants
2012 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Invader, The
2011 - Nicolas Provost - Features
Moving Stories
2011 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental, Shorts
Stardust
2010 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental, Shorts
Storyteller
2010 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental, Shorts
Plot Point
2007 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
Induction
2007 - Nicolas Provost - Shorts
Title Safe III
2007 - Thierry De Mey, Jan Vromman, Fien Troch, Nicolas Provost, Walter Verdin, Sophie Nys, Jos de Gruyter en Harald Thys, Monodot, Elke Boon - Experimental
Exoticore
2004 - Nicolas Provost - Shorts
Butterfly Of Love
2003 - Nicolas Provost - Experimental
From the Flanders (i) magazine
Playing the invader
Actor Isaka Sawadogo and director Nicolas Provost were both a long way from home when they met in Oslo in 2003. They channelled their common experience of living in Norway into the short film Exoticore, whose success led to a series of feature film roles for Sawadogo, all with a Flemish connection. The most recent examples are the Toronto selected Hotel Swooni by Kaat Beels and The Invader, Provost’s feature debut which is also invited to Venice.
Text: Ian Mundell; Portrait: Bart Dewaele
Sawadogo has acted on film and TV in Norway and Africa, but his major cinema roles all spring from his first encounter with Provost in Oslo. The phone call came out of the blue, asking Sawadogo if he was interested in appearing in a short film that Provost was making on a shoestring budget before returning to Brussels. The director wanted to say something about the difficulty he had experienced integrating in Norwegian society over nearly a decade living in the country. ‘The story is the same one that all strangers in Norway experience,’ Sawadogo says. The idea created an immediate connection between them. ‘We had the same feeling about Norway. Not anywhere, but Norway in particular.’ In Exoticore, Sawadogo plays an African man working as a driver on the Oslo subway, whose friendly advances to workmates and the people he meets in daily life are either brushed aside or dismissed with outright hostility. Playing up to people’s stereotyped view is no more successful, and finally he is driven to extravagant acts of revolt and passive acceptance. The film took just a few days to shoot and then Provost went away to edit the images. When it was finished in 2004 it started to appear in film festivals, winning prizes for its leading actor. ‘People saw it and contacted me about long film roles,’ Sawadogo says, ‘and they still do now.’