La présence réelle

Ruiz on the film: "I'm making Point de fuite (Vanishing Point) at the same time that I complete another. I've done this before and it can be very useful, because each film is out of step with the other so there is less chance that they'll resemble one another than if they had been made with a three month gap in between. I began La présence réelle (The Real Presence) first. I. N. A. had commissioned me to produce a personal vision of the Festival d'Avignon. This became a fiction about the theater because if I had filmed the actual performances at Avignon I would have had to respect their staging, I would not be able to change anything. As such, I wouldn't be doing anything more than a retransmission of Antenne 2 or FR3. And since a lot would have to be paid for rights to each play, it would end up costing as much as a fiction feature. So it is a story about the theater, a bit Rivette-ish. I shot all the exteriors in Avignon, the interiors in Paris a few days later and I finish the film next Tuesday."