2012 Assembled Territories: image, music, sound Assembled Territories: image, music, sound
Image, music, sound — 1
For several years, one of the concerns of the États généraux du film documentaire has been to make the public, and in particular professionals and students, aware of the enormous possibilities of sound and music in creative documentary.
This concern gave rise in 1992 to the programming of a "Sacem day", since become a tradition at Lussas, which regularly explores the link between music and image in creative documentary.
Further, two moments of reflection — the "Territories of Sound" seminar and the "On Practice" workshop — organised during previous editions, demonstrated the necessity to assemble these territories — image, music and sound — in order to develop a space of creativity and freedom for cinema.
This is the spirit in which we are organising "Assembled Territories: image, music, sound", a programme of debates and screenings running over several days in partnership with the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée and the Sacem (French Society of Composers and Musicians).
Music is as important as the image in the success of a cinematic work. This role is too often neglected or underestimated, as shown by the extremely limited attention given to music in the training of directors, of cinema in that of composers and the residual budgets allotted for it in film and audiovisual production.
The programme offered here is a reaction to this state of things, unanimously denounced by the profession, the CNC and the Sacem. Its aim is to publicise the national and regional aid resources available for original music, to examine a working collaboration between directors and a composer in the workshop "Writing and Developing a Creative Documentary", to explore the work of a composer, Marie-Jeanne Séréro, and a sound engineer, Daniel Deshays, and to see or see again a number of films where music is at the centre of the creative project.
Image, music, sound — 2
Sacem Day
2012 marks the twentieth year of complicity between the États généraux du film documentaire and the French Society of Composers and Musicians, Sacem. Twenty years of exploring creative musical documentaries, twenty years of meeting their directors, composers, musicians and audiovisual producers...
And to highlight these twenty years of companionship, the staff of the États généraux had the fine idea of proposing as a major festival theme "Assembled Territories: image, music, sound", a preoccupation close to the hearts of the composers comprising the Sacem, and whose influence will be found scattered here and there along the paths of festival visitors.
The Sacem ceaselessly supports the production of original music for creative documentaries and is striving to develop its cooperation with other institutions such as the CNC or the Scam — thanks to whom funding for musical creation has been added to the projects which receive "Sketch of a Dream" seed fund support.
Thus we are particularly happy to be able to participate in the whole of the programme organised by the États généraux, participating in particular in the panel describing aid mechanisms for the creation and production of original music on August 22, then making more explicit certain aspects during the traditional Sacem day at Lussas, where the dialogue between image and music in the service of documentary will be questioned.
A good festival to all!
Laurent Petitgirard
Member of the Institute, President of the Board of Governors of the Sacem
Furthermore, it seemed judicious to slightly modify the programming of our "Sacem Day" by more tightly connecting it to the "Assembled Territories" theme mixing the creation of image and music and inviting the public to participate in the dialogue between directors and composers but also among musicologists on the documentary films being projected.
The morning of Friday 24 August will be devoted to the projection of the creative documentary Surgi de la brume dans un rugissement strident directed by Christine Marrou with an original score by Jérôme Castel.
The director and the musician will speak to us of their collaboration and their dialogue, of the two forms of writing at the service of this aesthetically refined documentary film. This morning will also allow us to address a nod of acknowledgement to the meeting of August 22 as many Sacem partners, passionately interested in encouraging the dialogue between film and music, expressed their belief in this work and helped to make its completion possible — notably the Scam who granted "Sketch of a Dream" seed money to Christine Marrou, the G.R.E.C. as producer and Gindou Cinéma. And obviously also, the Sacem who helped finance the creation and production of original music by Jérôme Castel.
The afternoon will follow with the participation of Philippe Langlois, musicologist and researcher, author of the book Les Cloches d’Atlantis : musique électroacoustique et cinéma – Archéologie et histoire d’un art sonore. Accompanied by François Porcile, and illustrated with projections of films some of which can be found on the book's internet site www.lesclochesdatlantis.com, he will lead us on a history of sound invention in cinema "at the point where technique, music and film cross, following the steps of the most inventive composers and filmmakers".
Finally the day will conclude with the projection of Voukoum directed by François Perlier, produced by Réel Factory and Extérieur/jour, and this year's winner of the Sacem prize for best musical documentary. The film focuses on the Voukoum cultural movement which sprang up in the eighties in Guadeloupe and whose members reclaim their history and identity in order to question contemporary history.
We have to point out that François Perlier received support during the development of his work from the Rencontres internationales Henri Langlois, with whom the Sacem maintains an ongoing partnership, facilitating contact with the director: a fruitful contact as it happens for it gave rise to their support for this film. The prize will be awarded during the evening by Édith Canat de Chizy, composer, president of the Contemporary Music Commission at the Sacem and member of the jury which distinguished the film.
Aline Jelen (Sacem cultural activities)
In partnership with the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC) and the Sacem.