Bonjour la France! I

Sat, 14. 3., 19:30Sun, 15. 3., 15:30

91'

Guest curators Olivier Catherin and Jean Baptiste Garnero (CNC) invite audiences to join the sensual world order in a series of short films that showcase an eclectic mix of French fine artists. This poetic and highly emotive ensemble spans from 1963 to 2006, with works by César winners and David Bowie collaborators. Equipped with pastels, watercolours, crayons, celluloid, ink and oil painting alongside traditional 2D animation, their method propels paintings into movement as they solicit reflection on how imagination precedes knowledge.

1880

Jeannine & Christiane Clerfeuille

1964,

13’41

Photography had already been invented by 1880, but not cinema. This is a recreation of Parisian society at that time, made by cut-out animation of period photographs from the Victorian era. It is synced to opera music so that the photos seem to be playing out the opera.
The Clerfeuille sisters began their career directing advertisements in the 1950s.

Play Back

Sarah Mallinson

1981,

7’48

Through her daughter and the objects that live in ‘playback’, a woman discovers that nothing ever dies. This tricky film won the French César for best short film in 1981.

Un Drame dans la Forêt

Thérèse Mallinson

1979,

1’38

A feminist version of Little Red Riding Hood.

Hammam

Florence Miailhe

1991,

8’57

A sensuous tale of two young women who go to the baths for the first time; together with them we explore the hammam, with its labyrinth of steam baths, showers, and fountains. With her debut film, Florence Miailhe developed her incomparable style of ‘painted film’, an extraordinary interaction between painting and animation: with small, step-by-step changes of the original image, the drawing is brought to life directly in front of the camera without losing its picturesque character.

À La Vôtre

Monique Renault

1973,

2’31

A woman and a little superman are engaged in an erotic game.

Le Jardin

Marie Paccou

2002,

6’30

A couple wakes up in a garden. The woman is impatient to pick a fish but it isn’t ripe yet. Have to wait.

Un Jour

Marie Paccou

1998,

4’12

Originating from the filmmaker’s childhood confusion over an English expression regarding sex, this short tells the absurd, yet emotive tale of a woman who wakes up one day to find a small man growing out of her abdomen.

Sans Queue Ni Tête

Sandra Desmazières

2001,

6’41

Just another absurd day in the monotonous life of a young woman.

Bonsoir Monsieur Chu

Stéphanie Lansaque & François Leroy

2005,

14’53

Hai, a little boy, catches a bird. Duong Lê, a trishaw driver and friend of the family, cycles through the streets of Saigon and the rice plantations of Mekong with a carp. All over Vietnam, people are getting ready to celebrate Trung Nguyen, the day of wandering souls.

Au Premier Dimanche d’Août

Florence Miailhe

2000,

11’12

Everyone in the village comes to the summer dance. From dusk until dawn all kinds of music are played: rock, tango, waltzes… The night reveals the various couples, both young and old, the new lovebirds, the shy ones, the drinkers, the troublemakers, the children crying and laughing.

Le Roman de Mon Âme

Solweig von Kleist

1997,

6’12

A woman is leafing through a diary, evoking poetic images of her search for passion and freedom in a past life.

Même en Rêve

Alice Taylor

2006,

7’29

One morning Juliette wakes up late, believing her lover is next to her. She urges him to leave quickly before her husband Simon surprises them. But she has made a tragic error: It is Simon who emerges from under the blanket.

Festival 5 - 9 March, 2025