Portraits of Paris

A series of documentaries, with English subtitles
In collaboration with the Forum des Images
Under an agreement between the Fondation Alliance Française and the City of Paris

The Forum of Images

The Forum of Images was founded in 1988 with the goals of building an audiovisual memory of Paris and conserving its history, as well as its architectural, cultural and social evolution.
Today, the Forum’s special collections comprise 5,500 films, of which 4,000 hours of footage are on Paris from 1895 to the present. The films include many different formats, such as documentaries, publicity films and short, medium and full-length dramas.

Having organized festivals, special appearances, discussions, workshops, master classes, cinema courses and various other meetings and gatherings, the Forum of Images itself has also produced more than seven hundred films pertaining to social and urban change.
These have enriched its collection on Paris, as well as its body of amateur films, which are important components of twentieth century memory. Each year, the Forum opens its doors to new, formerly inaccessible collections.
All of this is made possible through a partnership maintained with institutions working for either the production or distribution of cinematic or television work.

Program

5 short films. DVD multistandard format.

“Sur les toits de Paris” (On the Roofs of Paris)
By Olivier Lassu / color documentary, 2002 – 55 minutes

The filmmaker captures Parisians who survey the roofs of the capital either for business or for pleasure. The passionate testimonials of these chimney sweeps, roofers, artists or “roofophiles” outline the portrait of a secret city, close to the sky and to dreams.
A subtle commentary read by the actor Philippe Torreton accompanies these very beautiful images of a totally new Paris. This documentary leads its viewers along an urban and human path in the French capital, in search of a dimension as mythic as it is unexplored, between tin roofing and azure sky.

“Blanche nuit à Paris” (All-Nighter in Paris)
By Jérôme Caza and  Arnaud Ngatcha / color documentary, 2002 – 54 minutes 

The subject is the Parisian “all-nighter,” which was organized by the mayor’s office and took place on October 5, 2002. 
It shows performances and tours in very diverse venues of the capital. With the nocturnal travels of a group of onlookers as the unifying theme, this documentary follows the reactions of its organizers during the course of the night and, thanks to the presence of numerous cameras, accurately reproduces the successful and playful character of this joyous cultural event.

“Jusqu’au dernier saltimbanque” (Up to the Last Street Acrobat)
By Laurent Canches / color documentary, 1999 – 52 minutes

The film sketches the portrait of street artists who have been working in the plaza in front of Beaubourg since the 1970s.  It also analyzes the unique role that the “empty square” plays in the life of the neighborhood and includes testimony from Renzo Piano, Beaubourg’s architect.

“Au fin Moka”
By Boris Joseph / color documentary, 2005, 53 minutes 

At the foot of the Montmartre hill (18th arrondissement), is “Au fin Moka”, an old-fashioned bistro run by the valiant octogenarian, Georgette, and patronized by a certain 75 year-old regular named Fernande.

Georgette talks about her Paris and about Montmartre. She waits for her clients, for her neighbors and for the neighborhood to liven up. As time goes by, the old ladies watch the world through their life experience, through their memories of growing up in the Paris of yesteryear and with a critical eye full of humor.
Boris Joseph’s empathetic camera presents Georgette and Henriette to us with great simplicity – two old ladies with strong personalities, sometimes making light of the camera which wins them over.
Aside from some quick exterior shots, the single set (Au fin Moka) and the numerous close-ups of the two protagonists give this documentary an intimacy and a proximity which makes these two women engaging. The dialogues are also full of humor and lucidity.

“5-7 rue Corbeau”
By Thomas Pendzel / documentary, 2007 – 58 minutes 

“5-7 rue Corbeau” recounts the fate of an apartment building which has become the biggest slum in Paris. It looked like a normal apartment building from the outside. It welcomed the latest arrivals to Paris in its 168 one-bedroom apartments - a succession of people from the provinces, Belgians, Italians, Eastern European Jews, Spaniards, Portuguese, repatriated French, North Africans, Senegalese and then Malians.
By 1998 when it had become the biggest slum in Paris, it was purchased and demolished by the city after its 350 occupants had been camping in the street for four months.   Looking in on “5-7 rue Corbeau” allows us to see far and wide and provides fodder for a more general reflection on the city, housing, exile and the possibility of making a film a memorial.

Links

http://www.forumdesimages.fr
http://www.unifrance.org

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