From a form of “pure cinema” to the “Pocket Film,” from 35 mm film to the mobile phone’s video mode, this program is a dialogue between two aesthetics: Three films by Jean-Marie Straub composed of short films and Nocturne for the King of Rome and Japanese Time, two feature films by Jean-Charles Fitoussi.
He will be present to discuss his films and those of Jean-Marie Straub, for whom he was an assistant between 1996 and 2002. It’s an exchange between two generations of filmmakers who meet on the grounds of invention, audacity, and modernity.
The first filmmaker to have made a feature film with a mobile phone, Jean-Marie Fitoussi states: “I use the phone without a crew, I film episodically, without second thought, these are documentary images that I reintegrate into a fiction, to give them another meaning, simple bathers become angels.”
The outdoor screening of the latest film by Jean-Marie Straub, among the trees of the Villa Arson garden, will provide an unprecedented and sensitive perception. Note that in October, as the evenings are cooler, it would be wise to bring cushions and blankets.
Who are they?
Two evenings will be hosted by Philippe Lafosse. His book, The Strange Case of Mrs. Huillet and Mr. Straub (Ed. Ombres / A Propos – 2007), his role in the DVD edition of the Straub films at Editions Montparnasse, or the website (www.straub-huillet.com) he developed on the internet contribute to making him one of the best connoisseurs of the work of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub.
Jean-Charles Fitoussi was the assistant of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub from 1996 to 2002. In 2001, he made Sicilia! Si Gira, a documentary on how the two filmmakers prepare, shoot, and edit a film. The first filmmaker to have made a feature film with a mobile phone, Fitoussi declares: “I use the phone without a crew, I film episodically, without second thought, these are documentary images that I reintegrate into fiction, to give them another meaning, simple bathers become angels.”
