Two young guys from different parts of Paris take the same metro every day—just barely missing each other. La Ligne dives into their contrasting lives and the quiet moments that almost bring them together.

I started writing La Ligne shortly after I finished Bluebird. I knew I wanted to shoot something in Paris before I left, and this became that piece.

Living in the 16th arrondissement during both of my stays in Paris, I frequently took Line 6. Heading north, it dives underground toward Étoile, but when traveling east across the city, it runs above ground, making it one of Paris’s most iconic metro lines. It passes through several neighborhoods on its trek, and as you look outside, you can see the shift in housing and people. I took this line to get pretty much everywhere in the city, so it eventually became a staple of my routine.

I wanted to explore the idea of a commute as the connection between two people—a very distinct and unique part of their relationship that will always remain.

What I also noticed while taking the metro was the wide array of people you see. I mean, you have tourists, the elderly, children, the working class, street performers, students, and so on. In that cabin, they all share the same life. Once they step out, they return to their individual stories. Every time I’d step into a car, it felt like a completely new set of people (or at least that’s what I thought). There might be recurring characters in the next car, the same car, or perhaps they were just a couple of minutes ahead of me.

We go through our lives completely unaware of these probabilities, and I believe the world has a funny way of placing people in our paths. All of these ideas served as the foundation for what would eventually become La Ligne.

Given that I had no actors or proper equipment, I turned to my trusty camcorder and my friend Valentin, who I was living with during this stay in Paris. We filmed the morning scenes one day and the rest another day. Valentin mentioned it was illegal to film inside the metro cars, so we had to move swiftly. On an overcast afternoon, we shot pretty much the entirety of the short. It was two days before I left Paris, so we definitely cut it close. I returned home to the States, where I began to clip, cut, and edit the pieces together.

Since Bluebird was more of a shoot-on-the-go project, this was the first time I set out to write an original idea. It was also the first time I acted, directed other actors, planned locations, storyboarded shots, and paid closer attention to coloring. I loved this entire process, and I definitely plan on doing it again in the very near future. Stay tuned—there’s more to come.

If you watched La Ligne and feel so inclined, I would love to hear your thoughts and how you interpreted it. Also, any feedback you may have is certainly welcomed.

Griffin