Shorts

Wannabe musical legend Slouch is pushed by his song-writing-demon Nuffti to deepdive into his darkest emotions, while his girlfriend Lisa is pregnant and wants him to transition into a harmonic family life... How personal is the story? Are you basing it on experience or someone you know? Back in Ludwigsburg I spent a lot of time making music and hanging out at our rehearsal room complex with other musicians. At some point I noticed an interesting paradox: many of the musicians (…)

Grumpy, Bashful, Cinderella and Piglet are trying to re-enchant the proletariat. One upon the time there was Wanda, and her first day at work at an amusement park. Why did you want to make a film in an amusement park? Were you inspired by a similar park that you’ve been to? I wanted to talk about insecure employment by looking at the mechanics of oppression and domination, where cynicism reached a peak when managerial techniques adopted the idea of “happiness at work”. Those two terms (…)

With his mother and brother gone, a vulnerable teenager living in northern Tunisia charts a path that threatens to tear apart what remains of his family. The film explores quite complex family issues; no mean feat for a film that’s under half an hour. What did you want to explore through these relationships? One of the things I felt strongly about was that I wanted this film to have its own time to tell its story for as long as it takes. I wasn’t really interested in making a film that (…)

The Big Sister – a person of colossal size – is trapped in sand in a deserted landscape. With no way to take care of herself, this burden falls on her resentful little sister. But The Big Sister keeps growing and sinking into her trap. Despite of The Little Sister’s attempts to stop it, she is left with one night to say goodbye and let go. Can you tell us a bit about your inspiration and the story behind the story of Sestry? I thought for a long time what my graduation movie would be (…)

Belle River is a film about Louisiana and its peaceful inhabitants, both threatened with extinction by the emergence of the climate crisis. How interested are you in the issue of climate change and do you plan on making more films on this topic? The issue of climate change concerns all three of us, and we expect it will be part of our future work at different levels. Given the upcoming upheavals, it will be hard to avoid the issue, even if it is just in the background of our future (…)

The factory where Romain and Adémar work has caught fire, so they decide to enjoy three days of idleness together in the mild summer. The relationship between Romain and Adémar is very touching. How did you come up with the idea for this friendship between colleagues? I’ve always been interested in the way adult artists call on their childlike sensibilities to take on youth. I’m a person who needs a lot of tenderness and I like reading illustrated books. A few years ago I found an (…)

On a boat to Corsica, Karina meets Sylvain. She had planned on getting some work done, he wants to get to know her. Are the characters Karine and Sylvain based on real people? How did you come up with the idea for their meeting? I’ve travelled alone frequently and observed that, among solitary travelers, there are those who intend to remain alone and those who take every opportunity to chat up others. That observation allowed me to write about something broader: what we project onto the (…)

Over a day of landscaping work, a first generation African American and his immigrant father have their tense relationship and different outlooks on life transformed irreversibly when they are racially profiled by police. What did you aim at exploring through the difficult relationship between the father and his son? As a first-generation Sierra Leonean American, the differences between me and my immigrant father were always incredibly apparent to me. We didn’t view life or process (…)

She finds letters full of love her dad wrote her 15 years ago. Now she fights to get that love back. How much is Love, Dad autobiographical? A lot. It’s my story, my voice, my handwriting. How did you work on the letters’ incorporation to the animation? Are they original letters? Did you film yourself for the female character or is it an actress? Yes, the letters are the original ones. And I know from the beginning that I want to use them as they are. That’s why I chose replacing (…)

In a huge industrial city, Noé is a young lighthouse keeper watching over the sailors. When he receives life-changing news, his quiet loneliness turns slowly into madness. Why did you choose a lighthouse as the setting for your film? Did you want to explore the impact of automation? I grew up close to the sea, in Loire Atlantique. The coastline always seemed to be an interesting place to film. In this space, there is an indescribable atmosphere, like the end of the world. I like the (…)