City Charged: The Speed and Energy of Paris as Lived by Two Boxers and Brothers
If you could glimpse the energy of the cities we live in, what would it look like? If you could capture the fast lives of the people of those who live there, how would you do it?
In our latest collaboration with Nike and guys behind the new LunarCharge silhouette, our new City Charged film project asked five groups of people whose lives are defined by the fast, dynamic lifestyle of the urban environment to give us an insight into their world. Powered through the city by their beliefs, their passions, and their own sense of style and identity, our latest film heads to Paris and follows brothers Luchino and Fabio Gatti.
Proud banlieusards of northern Paris, both are boxers inspired and trained by their parents (they even have a self-made boxing ring in their back garden). But while Luchino’s creative output is expressed through his filmmaking, like the flip side of a coin, his brother, Fabio, is defined by his acting. The passion and energy of the sport that made now helps them power through the fast and changing world of the French capital.
We grabbed a minute with them during the filming of their City Charged project, shot by Mohamed Chabane, to talk about why they box, why Paris, and why now film and acting?
Why Paris and not somewhere else?
Luchino Gatti: My parents grew up in the suburbs of Paris, so that's why. We had no choice really but I wouldn’t change any of it.
Fabio Gatti: Paris because we are born here we always lived here. I'm proud to be Parisian, proud to be a BANLIEUSARD. Which means a man from the suburbs, from the streets, from the outskirt
How long have you both been boxing? And why do you box?
FG: Well, I don't know how my mother did it, but I had boxing gloves on my hands when I was born! We’ve been boxing together for something like 15 years… Little by little when we were younger we started to come to our father's work who was a coach in a boxing gym in a housing project called Les Raguenets, in the north of Paris. Up until we were six, my brothers and I just used to play games in the ring, but then dad gave us gloves and here we are. Fighters. I box because my father made me a warrior, and that doesn’t necessarily have to mean a bad thing, either! After, it became for pleasure, pride, and because it's in my blood. This sports made me the man I am.
LG: After a while, we’ve entered our first tournaments and we won most of our fights. So we started to fall in love with it. This is where the passion began: to win a fight is always a hugely emotional moment. Two young men, fighting for themselves, to prove they are the best and the strongest! It’s a strong feeling, it felt like a drug sometimes.
We heard you’ve got a boxing ring in your garden. That true?
LG: Yeah! We used to train in a gym in the basement of some housing project in my city. When it closed, we took the ring with us and my father put it in the backyard of our house. Now it’s the place where everybody wants to come train at.
Who inspires you?
FG: Now, I'm more of an actor than a boxer really. That's what I do in my life. I'm inspired by those real people that surround me: my family... I always say that I don't have friends, only brothers, and that's it. That’s why I'm always real and free because I'm inspired by the people that trust me, and who I trust in. We are just free when we are together. But as an actor, you need a ton of inspiration to work. I’m inspired by all kinds of people depending on the character I have to play. I'm inspired by the whole fucking planet. And if I had to talk about famous actors, I would choose Marlon Brando, and for a boxer let's say Mike Tyson that I like a lot.
LG: For me it is not really about who but what inspires me. Every person is unique, and each one has a personal story and identity. My story is growing up with love in a half-French, half-Italian family, watching Wesley Snipes or Jean Claude Van Damme doing crazy stuff on TV, boxing and training every day with my brother and my father... Most of my inspiration comes from my own story and the people I’ve been surrounded by. I would never betray myself by making up a story that isn’t mine. But a lot of people are doing this now, pretending to a life through what they post on Instagram. But it’s fake. They think they’re cool, but, in fact, they're the opposite. They’re just doing what everybody else is doing. Trying to be someone else.
My family and all my brothers, they are the ones who give me all the energy in the world to create what I want to create. Do you remember in DragonBall Z when Goku ask for people to raise their hands to the sky and share the energy with him to do the Genki-Dama? Well, that’s what I'm talking about. My friends and family give me the power to be and do my best.
Luchino, talk us through your project, Deadboy.
Deadboy is the story of Enzo (played by Sandor Funtek), a young dealer. He goes back to his neighborhood after spending a night in custody. On his return, he has to face the mistrust of the others who believe he talked to the police.
The movie was born from an encounter between me and my scriptwriter, Aswed Wahren. It was a meeting that changed the way I looked at the world. I've been boxing for many years but I decided to make a change. I was ready. And I did it mainly thanks to him. It was difficult because it’s not an easy choice, nor logical for most people. But I trusted my feelings, went for it, and now, here I am, with Deadboy: my first short movie.
What are you trying to say with the film?
LG: I’m trying to share some sort of realness. Deadboy is about the ignorance of the human race, unable to deal with differences. It’s about a friendship that’s stronger than blood ties. It’s about a powerful love, the same love we should all know at least once. I wanted to make a movie which would bring love to people. Remind them that there's no such thing as races, that no skin color is better than any other. That no sexual preference is more acceptable than any other. That every person is unique and free to make their own choices.
Also, this is a very very WTF kinda message but shout outs too Freeze Corleone, 667, Norsace Berlusconi, Benracer, Lory Louves, Yassine, Momo, OFFWALL. Also I wanna say that to the people supporting me and to all the aware people who are reading this: forget your ego, stay true, and be yourself.
See the first part of our City Charged film project in London, or cop the new LunarCharge via Nike.com.
