From May 2 to 4, the Villa Arson in partnership with L’ECLAT presents “Cinéma du réel”, an “offsite” event of the Public Information Library of the Centre Pompidou, which organizes the eponymous festival. For 33 years, it has established itself as a reference for documentary cinema in France.
“It is the margin that holds the page,” said Godard. Breaking down prejudices by depicting individuals or a community rather than a social pedigree seems to be the driving force for the filmmakers presented, always on the lookout for those “border” areas of our present that constantly question society. The aim is to give a “voice” to those who do not have one, to bear witness through cinema to the power of citizen action.
Programming:
Monday, May 2
*In the presence of Ariane Doublet, filmmaker*
8:00 PM >> La pluie et le beau temps by Ariane Doublet
(France, 2011, 1h14 / International Competition)
Normandy produces 40% of the world’s linen for a single client, China. Between fields and spinning mills, how is globalization interwoven?
It is an engaged film that raises political questions. During the filming, I realized the consequences that financial speculation could have on the exploitation of raw materials. I wanted to talk about the circulation of goods. We are walking on our heads. Linen is sent to China to return later to Le Havre. Will we ever measure the consequences? – Ariane Doublet
Fièvres by Ariane Doublet
(France, 2009, 43 min / Selected at the Marseille International Documentary Festival 2009)
Allied with the healer, then a healer himself, this doctor effortlessly moves from European medicine to ancestral magic recipes. He diagnoses a malignant fever with the same skill as a lovesickness stuck in the throat. A physicist doubled as a psychoanalyst, he brings the fever down. – Jean-Pierre Rehm
Tuesday, May 3
International Competition First Films
Screenings presented by Javier Packer-Comyn, Artistic Director of Cinéma du Réel
6:30 PM >> The ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye by Marie Losier
(USA/France, 2011, 1h12, original version with French subtitles / Special Mention of the Louis Marcorelles Award at Cinéma du Réel 2011)
A feverish and affectionate portrait of Genesis P-Orridge, father of industrial music and transgender performer, who has metamorphosed over the years to resemble his blonde half, Lady Jaye. Like living paintings or surreal scenes, I mix moments of fiction and everyday life, archives, and shots from my Bolex. It is on the editing table that the story begins to take shape with the sound editing. – Marie Losier
8:00 PM >> Kinder by Bettina Büttner
(Germany, 2011, 1h05, original version with French subtitles)
Far from all sociology and preconceived ideas, the daily life of children in a foster home. Marvin, ten years old, leaves to return to his mother, where he lived with his sister through an intimate drama. To the memory that does not pass, cowboy games are a weak response. Attentive, the filmmaker manages to capture images that metaphorize those invisible ones of trauma. – Charlotte Garson
9:15 PM >> Il futuro del mondo passa da qui by Andrea Deaglio
(Italy, 2011, 1h03, original version with French subtitles / Louis Marcorelles Prize at Cinéma du Réel 2011)
A few kilometers from the center of Turin, an eclectic community (landless farmers, Roma, drug addicts) lives on the riverbanks, between recovery and ecological systems. This marginal land has been cultivated by some for years: “Without us, it would be a dump.”
Wednesday, May 4
Screenings presented by Javier Packer-Comyn, Artistic Director of Cinéma du Réel
6:30 PM >> Voir ce que devient l’ombre by Matthieu Chatellier
(France, 2010, 1h29 / Contrechamp French Competition)
Like a visiting friend, the filmmaker shares the intimacy of two artists, engraver Cécile Reims and her husband painter Fred Deux. Over 80 years old, they prepare the legacy of their work. An intimate, concentrated yet discreet conversation unfolds in each of the two studios.
8:30 PM >> Below sea level by Gianfranco Rosi
(USA/Italy, 2008, 1h55, original version with French subtitles / Grand Prize of Cinéma du Réel 2009 / Tribute at Cinéma du Réel 2011)
For five years, the filmmaker lived in a community of California drop-outs (former Vietnam draftee, transvestite, doctor…) that life has stranded in trailers at the edge of the desert, both excluded and preserved from the consumer society. A film of universality that far surpasses the delightful gallery of portraits: from the depths of the desert, America is laid bare from its margins. –
