LE MAL DES ARDENTS

France

Synopsis

A stunned crowd faces a fire.
The threat has no name, a diffuse anguish spreads.
Fear needs to be conjured, fire must be turned into a sign.

Director's Statement

The film proposes an immersive experience surrounding the spectators of a fire, diving into the realm of their different interpretations. Always off-screen, the fire becomes a signifier inflated by the imagination, which crystallises a certain climate of societal tension.
The project started with the images I filmed of the people facing the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris. The emotions that spread through the crowd and the mass behaviors I witnessed were then reconstructed using photogrammetry and sound staging. The reconstitution of this moment through the film testifies an atmosphere that is still contemporary: an era marked by a globalised loss of reference points between information and rumor, by the rise of nationalism and identity-based radicalisations, and by the media that which only stir up conflicts for their own profit. It is a reflection of my own stupor among this anxious crowd, an attempt to grasp this climate of group psychosis that seems to be spreading on the networks, in France, and elsewhere.
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Alice Brygo

Written by: Paulo Gatabase, Alice Brygo

Produced by: Luc-Jérôme Bailleul

Cinematography: Alice Brygo

Editing: Alice Brygo

Original Score: Fatma Pneumonia, Paul Lajus

Sound: Clémence Dufieux, Benjamin Poilane, Alice Brygo, Paul Lajus, M’Hand Abadou Djezaira

Visual Effects: Nathan Ghali

Cast: Clara Dessertine

Nominations and Awards

  • Short Film Candidates 2024