La Haine, jusqu'ici tout va bien

In the fall of 1994, Gilles Favier photographed freely around the filming of La Haine. Approached a few weeks earlier by Mathieu Kassovitz, he had come to document the film’s setting. Sensing that the nature of the shoot—particularly the casting of local residents from the housing project as extras—was significant, he returned every day during the eight weeks of production to photograph both the filming itself and how it was received.

In May 1995, the film was released and quickly rose to the top of the box office, drawing over 2 million viewers.

Twenty-five years later, at the request of Mathieu Kassovitz, Gilles Favier unearthed his 220 rolls of film. Vincent Perrottet used them to create an anniversary book for a film that refuses to age—one that continues to echo the present day.

HUBERT – You know the story of the guy who falls from a 50-story building? As he falls, floor by floor, he keeps saying to reassure himself: “So far so good, so far so good, so far so good…”

VINZ – I knew that one, but with a rabbi.

HUBERT – The problem isn't the fall… it's the landing. It’s like us in the projects—for now, so far so good...