Exactly. My parents are Tamils from Sri Lanka who had to flee the country. I was born in 1989 here in France, and I am one of the first generation of Tamilians born and raised here. Many filmmakers go back to the countries of their origin to make films. And there are many stories back in Sri Lanka. But I wanted to tell my story which is set here in France. How I grew up, how I struggled as a Tamil and a French boy. My mother and grandmother told me to be French, to speak French. It's like what Michael goes through in the film. I had to put my Tamil-ness aside. It was like a secret. I could only use Tamil at home. But when I’d be outside, I’d be French.

When I grew up, I wanted to be an actor. But my grandma and my mom told me it's not for people like us. So, I put it aside and did management studies. It was while doing a theatre course as a manager, to help with public speaking, that I realised I loved it. I quit management at 21 and began studying acting. I studied for five years at the La Résidence de La Fémis—one of the best schools in France—to be an actor. I was also working on the side but got to play only Indian guys. I used to see French films with only white people. It’s complicated to get work when you don't have the same skin colour.

Around that time I also discovered an actor in Tamil cinema, Vijay, and I really connected with him. I realised it was possible to be this colour and still be an actor.

I was told I can go to India and be an actor there but I knew I’d always be seen as a Frenchman in India, while here in France I was told that I'm an Indian. I had to learn to speak with an Indian accent. I realised I cannot be French in a film. I realised I’ll have to create characters and stories for myself.

I had cleared the audition for the lead role but it later became that of an older man. So, they contacted me three months later with the part of an extra and I said no, thank you. The film went on to win the Palme d’Or and I was certain that no French director will now do a Tamil-Sri Lankan film. Mine is the only one after that. It’s at that point that I also started to think of becoming a director. I will tell my story in my own way. What I know about the community and how I grew up with the community. I love gangster films. So I used that for narrative. I had done a short film called The Loyal Man at school. It got selected in the Clermont-Ferrand Festival. It got me a little popular here in France as a director. As a director it was very easy for me to get producers but as an actor I struggled for 13 years before getting a lead role in my own film.

I knew I didn’t want to tell the story in a cliched manner. “Michael is a French policeman. He infiltrates a violent Tamil gang and he becomes Tamil”: I didn't want to go there. I was like, Michael is a French policeman and will remain one. When he goes deeper in the community, he finds another part of himself. But in the end he is still a French police officer. When you go to the other side, you understand people's feelings, why people do the stuff they do. You get another point of view on the conflict. In most films it's like you have to choose between one or the other, and if you choose one, you betray the other. But I didn’t want that.

While the film got a lot of support from the Tamil population in Toronto, people in France felt Tamils have been shown in a negative light, like gangsters. But, for me, the film is not a representation of Tamils in France. It is a representation of me. I want many more Tamil representations to come after this. For me it's a way of opening the door to other ways of looking at Tamil people in France.

I've loved watching Martin Scorsese’s films. I grew up watching Tarantino, Korean films, and Bong Joon-ho. Within gangster films you can tell political stuff, and at the same time you can hold people’s interest. It's the way that I love to do cinema. The more people you draw in, the more the stories get known to the world. So many people in France told me they didn’t know there was a war in Sri Lanka. That's why I didn't put dates on it, because I didn't want to say it's a story set in 2009 because people in their head will then think it’s over, it's finished. But it's not finished yet, because people are still suffering there, and for me as a French-Tamil boy here, I just want to let them know that we didn't forget and we are still thinking of it. This film is for the next generation. We have to catch the young audience and let them know of our history.

It's not about being pro Tiger or anti-government. It's just the pain of people. I just want to let them know that we are thinking of them.

Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur.

Nayakan is for an Indian audience. But GOW played at Directors’ Fortnight. There is a Western vision and style but it’s an Indian story with Indian actors. I’m trying to do something similar with my film. I'm talking about our people but it’s a French film.

It’s about building a universe but it’s complicated. I was working only with white people, who don’t have a clue about Tamil people. Normally in a gangster film, everything is dark but I have colour in every section. In France, Tamil people are living in the shadows. I decided to put a light on them, bring them to the light.

I didn't see Little Jaffna as a debut film. I told everyone it's my last film. When you do that, your mindset changes. You don't have any pressure, you don't have anything to lose. You just have to go and do your work.

We got Raadhika ma’am, Vela sir from India. All the others are young non-professional first-time actors. They are French, but their parents are Tamil. I am the only professional French actor. I needed to get experienced actors from India here in France, because in the French-Tamil community acting is like a mere hobby. But when Raadhika ma’am came things became serious. People started to regard it as a professional film. We started getting support from the community. I took a lot of time with my casting director to find every youngster in the cast.

Michael is told to infiltrate a terrorist group, but he realises what he has infiltrated is a family. My whole cast and crew was also like a family, tight like family.

Like I told you, I started as an actor, and the thing is, I think my thirst is for acting. I can move mountains for that. I wrote this film for five years and after that the acting process started with a coach, and I prepared for the role for three months. I went to the set not as Lawrence but as Michael. When they’d say cut I switched to being the director, listening to the cast and crew. When they’d say action I’d go back to acting. I had the coach at the shoot because when you finish a scene you look for someone to say if it was good or not.

I would love to but I don't know if it would be possible. It's a bit political, openly talking about Prabhakaran, openly talking about Tamil Tigers with their flags. I don't know if the government will allow it.