Quartiers Lointains: Season 3
Theme: FRENCH-STYLE LOVE
Through the turmoil of sexuality and a masculine environment in Yohann Kouam’s Le Retour, through the dance of bodies and shyness in Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo’s Le Sens du toucher, through the complexity of traditional marriages in Zangro’s Destino, and also through the difficulty of loving, as explored by Alice Diop in Vers la tendresse, the short films of the third season of Quartiers Lointains shake us, move us, and captivate us by tackling a feeling that is both French but above all universal.
Our Sponsor: Melvin VAN PEEBLES
Melvin Van Peebles is a writer, musician, actor, producer, screenwriter, and Afro-American director. After a stay in France, during which he collaborated notably with the satirical magazine Hara Kiri, he made films, the most famous of which, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadaasssss Song, is at the origin of the Blaxploitation genre. By accompanying the third season of Quartiers Lointains, Melvin Van Peebles reminds us that passion and perseverance are essential drivers for telling stories.
The Films of Season 3
Le Retour de Yohann Kouam
Fiction - 22min
Mezzanine Films
Synopsis :
It has been a year since his older brother left, and Willy, 15, eagerly awaits his return to the neighborhood. He thinks he knows everything about Théo, but as soon as Théo returns, he discovers a secret about him...
Carrière du film :
UniFrance Award, OffCourt Festival of Trouville 2013 (France)
Grand Prize LGBTQ, Rhode Island Film Festival 2014 (USA)
Best Youth Film Award, KUKI Festival 2014 (Germany)
Grand Prize, Zubroffka International Short Film Festival 2014 (Poland)
Grand Prize, Cheries-Cheris Festival 2014 (France)
City Award, Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux Festival 2014 (France)
Best Foreign Film Award, Reel It Out Virginia 2014 (USA)
Best Male Performance Award for Yann Gaël
Cinebanlieue Festival and National Festival of Hyères-les-Palmiers 2014 (France)
Broadcast on France 3
International Oriental Film Festival of Geneva 2014 (Switzerland)
Le Sens du Toucher de Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo
Animation - 15min
Folimage Studio
Synopsis :
Chloé and Louis secretly love each other but can’t admit it. Their gestures substitute for words. They dance, each word is a choreography.
Carrière du film :
Talents en Court Award, Urban Film Festival 2014 (France)
1st National Prize, International Short Film Festival of Lille 2014 (France)
Best Swiss Made Award, Schnitt Festival 2014 (Switzerland)
Audience Award, Annual Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Invitational Festival 2014 (USA)
Audience Award, International Weekend of Animation 2014 (Germany)
3rd Audience Award, Big Cartoon Festival 2014 (Russia)
Special Jury Mention, Seoul Animation Film Festival 2014 (South Korea)
Grand Prize, Animatou Festival of Geneva 2014 (Switzerland)
Promotion Award, Cinanima Festival 2014 (Portugal)
Excellence Award, Animation Division of the 18th Japan Media Arts Festival 2014 (Japan)
Grand Prize, Trickfilm Festival 2015 (Germany)
Broadcast on ARTE
Destino de Zangro
Fiction - 22min
Bien ou Bien Productions
Synopsis :
Loïc and Mehdi have set up a small business: filming "reubeu" weddings and editing the footage in their van converted into an audiovisual studio. But when it comes to filming the wedding of the beautiful Leila, Mehdi’s ex... Destiny intervenes.
Carrière du film :
Grand Jury Prize, Ascona Festival (Switzerland)
Jury Prize, Cinema and Migration Festival (Morocco)
Best Screenplay Award, International Film Festival of Tangier (Morocco)
Claude Pinoteau Award, National Film Festival of Hyères les Palmiers (France)
Jury’s Favorite Award, International Film Festival of Vébron (France)
Prize of the Fogelsong Family Foundation of the USA, International Festival of Local Televisions (Slovakia)
Audience Award, International Festival of Contis (France)
Best Male Performance Award for Salim Kechiouche, Mulhouse tout court Festival (France)
Fifog d’Or, International Oriental Film Festival of Geneva (Switzerland)
Jury Prize and Audience Award, European Short Film Festival of Bordeaux (France)
Vers la Tendresse de Alice Diop
Documentary - 40min
Synopsis :
"Vers la Tendresse" is an intimate exploration of the masculine territory of a suburban housing project. By following the wanderings of a group of young men, we traverse a universe where female bodies are reduced to ghostly and virtual silhouettes.
Carrière du film :
INA Creative Director Award and Audience Award, Women’s Film Festival of Créteil 2016 (France)
Brive Film Festival 2016 (France)
THE FILMMAKERS OF SEASON 3
Alice Diop
Born in Vincennes (France) to Senegalese parents, Alice Diop studied History at La Sorbonne and then completed a DESS in Image and Society at Evry. Her first documentary, Le tour du monde, was broadcast on the Voyages channel, while Clichy pour l’exemple (2006) was shown on France 5. In 2011, her documentary La mort de Danton won the Libraries Prize at the Cinéma du réel festival and the Etoile de la Scam 2012.
Yohann Kouam
Born in Lille (France) to Cameroonian parents, Yohann Kouam trained in editing at the Institut des arts de diffusion (IAD) in Brussels and then studied translation in France. After the short films Fragments de vie (2007) and Les dimanches de Léa (2010), he directed in 2013 his short film Le Retour, which was internationally acclaimed.
Zangro
Born in Cenon (France) to Franco-Spanish parents, Zangro grew up in Spain and Morocco before returning to France. After studying sociology, he worked as a video trainer and then directed En attendant demain, a TV movie broadcast in 2006 on Canal +, Islam School Welkoum (2008), a web series filmed in Morocco, and Como à la Télévision (2012), a prime at the Urban Film Festival in Paris. Founder of Bien ou Bien Productions, he directed Destino in 2014, which was internationally acclaimed.
Jean-Charles Mbotti Mololo
Born in Vaulx-en-Velin (France) to a Cameroonian father and a Burgundian mother, Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo is a popping dancer who studied animation at the Emile Cohl School in Lyon. After the success of his first short Le cœur est un métronome and a collaboration with the ARTE program Karambolage, JC Mbotti Malolo directed Le Sens du toucher, which was internationally acclaimed. He is currently working on his next short film, Please, please, please.