2018 Département de l’Ardèche Département de l’Ardèche
In 1988, Jean-Marie Barbe, son of a Lussas grocer, dreamt that documentary cinema could settle in his village, open a window onto the world for its inhabitants and visitors, bring together amateurs and professionals, and even make it possible to create jobs here, right in the middle of the Ardèche countryside.
Today, deeply anchored in reality, the États généraux du film documentaire invite us to their thirtieth edition, between the future and memories, the discovery of new trends in documentary film and the collective memory of its participants with particularly, on August 23, a collective performance representing “in form and space the memories” of spectators. This anniversary will provide the opportunity to measure the distance covered since this dream was born which has made it possible to create and structure a true documentary hub in the Ardèche. Between creation, distribution and training, more than fifty people are now employed here and will be brought together this year within the new building which is opening its doors: L’Imaginaïre, a name dream-like in itself.
The Ardèche Département has from the beginning always been a resolute partner of the Lussas project, around which it has constructed an ambitious policy of accompanying documentary film. In 2018 our policy has innovated with two partnership agreements to be signed during the États généraux: one with the Village documentaire, which coordinates the activities of the documentary pole, the other with Tënk.fr, the recent VOD platform, to aid its activities in support of documentary creation.
I will conclude by paraphrasing the organisers, who observe that “the inventiveness, liberty, reactivity to the grumblings of the world jump out from the screen at each viewing”. This statement, which I fully share, is one of the principal aims of the ambitious cultural policy that I support in the Département for the whole of our territory.
I warmly thank all those who mobilise their energies to ensure the success of this important event, in particular the volunteers, and I wish for all a wonderful week as well as a fine anniversary for the États généraux!
Laurent Ughetto
President of the Ardèche Département