Clarisse Hahn

For the 30th anniversaire of FIDMarseille about thirty directors have done us the honor of offering us some very beautiful short films.

It is an observation of the male body, sometimes solitary, especially in groups, perceived through a codified choreography.

Karima is a young dominatrix whom I filmed in the intimacy of her family, with her friends, and during sessions. Karima’s sadomasochistic practice has a maternal and generous propensity. The body appears alternately as a source of pleasure and pain, an object of adoration or disgust, a vehicle for emotions or an impenetrable border.

It is an observation of the male body, sometimes solitary, especially in groups, perceived through a codified choreography.

Under the influence of a hallucinogenic cactus, a couple of French comes to introduce, like a virus, into a Mexican landscape whose practices, codes and uses they do not know.

Rituels brings together five channels of video moving from a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the Paris streets to a private S&M soirée in the same city, to its suburbs and a Kurdish community gathering, then far away to a Mexican hilltop, and to Turkish Kurdistan.

The Kurdish lover is Oktay, the man with whom I share my life. We went to his village in Kurdistan, a region brought to a standstill by war. At this place, loving someone can become confused with having a hold over them. It is with humor that the characters featured in this film find ways, within their community, to affirm that they truly exist. A shaman goes into trance in front of the television, a hermit dreams of marriage, a shepherdess wants to leave the top of the mountain, soldiers watch over the village, a man from Europe goes off to request the hand of a young woman. It is through these situations that we discover the reality of families doing what they can to find a way of living together, to take the best – or the worst – from each moment.

What kind of habits does one develop when confronted with extreme situations on a daily basis ? In a geriatric department, the management of this borderline state becomes the structuring element of everyday life. The staff focuse on technical gestures to keep bodies at bay. Nurses use a specialized vocabulary, which serves less to express a feeling than to domesticate the violence of it, reducing the disorder of emotions to a reduced number of formulas. Patients use devious means to assert their independence. A woman fiercely refuses to take a shower. This is an ultimate form of resistance, to feel that she still has decision-making power over her body. Raymond withdraws to an inner world. He creates stories about the objects he sees in his room, confusing past and present, dreams and reality.