True/False Film Festival and Ficunam Mexico 2019 – Les proies (The Game)
From the view of their log cabin hut in the Landes region of France, men scour the autumnal skies. They listen to the rustling of the forest, eagerly awaiting the birds to pass overhead. In a strange choreography, they pull on the strings of time to activate their trap, while all around them the trees are falling.
Interview with Director Marine de Contes
Watch Les proies (The Game) on Vimeo on demand
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I made The Game to share an experience in the Landes forest, located in the southwest of France. I would like the audience to feel what I discovered deep into this wood, the sounds, the light, the animals and an old tradition of a group of people. I also want to question our world and especially the way we manage natural resources and change our ecosystem.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
With this film, I propose a total immersion into the forest in the company of some wood pigeon hunters. Delving into the atmosphere of the birdsong-saturated forest, we are initially transported by the immensity of the landscape. Strange sounds mingle with the rustling of the trees. We prick up our ears and learn to listen to the forest, becoming like hunters ourselves, waiting for something, waiting with infinite patience.
Little by little you will discover an old tradition of net hunting. You will be surprised how suspense can catch you even in a documentary film.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
This remote corner of the French countryside has been geographically labelled with the term hyper-rural. These men have conserved a language, a notion of time and an unsullied relation with the environment, which is passed down from generation to generation, yet doomed to die out. However, the law of profitability has imposed the cutting of pines, and it disfigures the landscape and threatens to modify the ecosystem. The hunters’ playground disappears, and the wood pigeons change their migratory routes.
Personal and universal themes are communicated in my film. I involve myself personally meeting wood-pigeon hunters, although we are from opposite worlds: urban vs rural. Moreover, as a woman I think it was especially interesting to enter a man's clan and to film them.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Of course the script evolved during the shooting. From the beginning, I wanted to construct the film by aligning my approach with that of the hunters: observing, approaching and capturing them, allowing the viewer to live the experience while decoding a practice in the manner of an ethnographic film.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I got good feedback, many screenings all around the world. This typical way of hunting surprises French people as well as foreigners.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The feedback made me feel confident. I know it is a strange subject but I'm always thankful to meet people affected by my film.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
By having my film on www.wearemovingstories.com I hope to have more visibility in the US and hope people will see my film.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I hope you will contact me!
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I hope people will reflect on traditions, transmission and management of the environment.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Why would a young woman film old hunters in a remote forest ?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I work on a new project in a natural park, analyzing the relation of men and women with animals and landscapes.
Interview: March 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
The Game
From the view of their log cabin hut in the Landes region of France, men scour the autumnal skies. They listen to the rustling of the forest, eagerly awaiting the birds to pass overhead. In a strange choreography, they pull on the strings of time to activate their trap, while all around them the trees are falling.
Length: 53:00
Director: Marine de Contes
Producer: Fabrice Marache
Writer: Marine de Contes
About the writer, director and producer:
MARINE DE CONTES is a French filmmaker and editor. She has studied languages at the universities of Bordeaux and Toulouse, filmmaking in Buenos Aires and editing at Madrid Film School (ECAM) in Spain. She has shown her work at several festivals and biennale internationally. “The Game” is her first feature documentary which won the Prix Louis Marcorelles at Cinema du Reel 2018.
FABRICE MARACHE co-founded l'atelier documentaire film producing company with Raphaël Pillosio. He has produced many films shown internationally in festivals.
Looking for: sales agents, distributors, film festival directors, journalists, producers, buyers
Facebook: Marine de Contes
Website: http://www.atelier-documentaire.fr/films/les-proies
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Estonia World Film festival, Tartu, 19th March; Art of the Real, New York 18th to 28th April