Visions du Réel (Tënk Award) / Grenoble Outdoor Short Film Festival 2019 – La rivière Tanier
The director's grandmother is a mystery. Since she has lost her memory, her simple evocation is enough to stiffen the bodies. Using to a process that resembles engraving, this animated film borrows from the archaeologist the gesture of digging in order to reveal a Creole family identity through buried memories.
Interview with Writer/Director June Balthazard
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
At the beginning, I wanted to go to Mauritius to film my grandmother but only for me, to have some memories of her. By doing that, I’ve started to question her relatives about who she was because before that, we never spoke about her except for her health condition. Something changed – we started to talk about her life and I realized that there was some material to make a film. She was mysterious because she suffers from Alzheimer's disease, so she doesn’t speak and move. Through the words of her relatives, I had the impression to meet a singular woman, a really strong and complex person.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I discovered during the process that there was a family secret around her that reveals some residual consequences of slavery and colonialism. At that moment, I’ve decided to make a film because the story of my grandmother tells parts of the collective history. The film opens with a historical fact: during the slave trade in Benin, the slave drivers compelled the men they had kidnapped, to turn around a totem, L’arbre de l’oubli (the tree of forgetfulness). After seven rounds, they were supposed to have lost their memory and therefore to be more docile during the sea journey. In the film, there is a back and forth between the loss of individual memory and this original uprooting which is part of that Creole identity which is by definition unstable.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The film tells a story of life and disappearance, as can be found in every family. Very far from Mauritius from postcards, it also gives access to the unconscious of a Creole society still marked by its slavery past.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The film is an animated documentary. It wasn’t the obvious technique to use because I’d never worked in animation before. But it was a good solution to speak about this delicate subject by keeping the right distance. We used celluloid drawing: to animate we used a transparent paper on which we put a layer of paint, under there was light. To create the image, we scratched the support to remove the material. So there is a pretty obvious reference to the absence, but also to the memory, because we always used the same support, which means that to advance in the animation, we destroyed the previous drawing but the support kept track of it. Just as the archeologist, we had to dig to reveal things.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Pretty good, as I had the chance to have the first screening at Visions du réel, a very good documentary festival. Then, the film continued his journey with other documentary and film festivals. It also had been shown in web platform like Tënk's or Beaux-Art Magazine's ones. There are still other projections scheduled.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Having articles is always good for filmmakers. Our work needs to be seen to find an audience and to help us to work on new projects.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Contacting sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors and journalists would be useful.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
The film is coming to the end of its life in festivals and I would like it to continue to be seen for example on VOD platforms.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What is the link between the intimate portrait and the universal approach?
Would you like to add anything else?
I've just finished an other short film which is called Le Baiser du silure. It’s a poetic documentary about catfish, a mythical deep-water fish which has the unusual characteristic of being bigger than human beings. In the film, a man goes in search of a catfish at dawn in the mining landscapes of northern part of France. There are three voice-overs : his own and those of a scientist and poet. Through them, we understand that this fish from the Danube provoques very strong reactions near to fiction because it is suspected of being invasive. The animal becomes a metaphor of a stranger and allow to speak about alterity. Finally, it’s a magical realist film about strangers and strangeness.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I'm working on several projects, one of which is a length feature documentary about miraculous waters.
Interview: February 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
La rivière Tanier
The director's grandmother is a mystery. Since she has lost her memory, her simple evocation is enough to stiffen the bodies. Using to a process that resembles engraving, this animated film borrows from the archaeologist the gesture of digging in order to reveal a Creole family identity through buried memories.
Length: 17:30
Director: June Balthazard
Producer: Le Fresnoy - Studio National
Writer: June Balthazard
About the writer, director and producer:
Born in 1991 in France, JUNE BALTHAZARD studied at the Higher School of Art and Design (HEAD) of Geneva. She also took a post-diploma at the Fresnoy - National Studio of Contemporary Arts. Her work has been shown in festivals, in particular the Nyon Festival Visions du Réel, where she received the Opening Scenes Prize, 2018.
LE FRESNOY is a post-graduate art and audiovisual research center. It was conceived by Alain Fleischer who is also the artistic and pedagogic director. As its full name - National Studio - indicates, it is a place of production (studio) as well as study.
Key cast: Alexis Robert (graphic design), Tabass.co (animation), Martin Delzescaux (sound)
Looking for: distributors, journalists, film festival directors, buyers, sales agents
Website: https://www.junebalthazard.com/la-riviere-tanier
Other: Vimeo
Made in association with: The support of the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles de Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, 2016
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Check this link for more details.