The Sparkle

Capture, document, record, share, restart. We are making ourselves more memorable than ever by archiving every bit of our daily lives. What if we lost something along the way?

The hairdressing salon “Saïda” is a space where people speak openly, laugh and argue. The subject rarely is hair. In the run-up to the presidential elections in Tunisia the shop turns into a political arena where the women – young or old, conservative or with a modern outlook – indulge in discussions about the pros and cons of the candidates. Their clever and witty statements reflect a young democracy with all its rifts and fault lines.

At Christmas, three garbage collectors are surprised to be invited to the Prime Minister’s house.

An elegant woman presides over a banquet whose increasingly surreal nature reflects ideals and anxieties about modern motherhood.

In a detailed voicemail, a man explains how to use the old lawn tractor to mow the grass on his land without unbalancing the garden.

Searching through junk and metal, a young scrap dealer tries to track down how rust clogged up his relation with his dad.

Melanie's greatest wish is to have a family that sticks together, that stays together. Meanwhile, her boyfriend David is about to set off to become a long-distance truck driver.

Young people wonder what their future profession should be. While the ambitions of some are brimming with ideas of grandeur, for others the horizon seems blurred and dizzying. In a series of sessions with a guidance counselor, they reveal their true selves.

The obligation to perfom in society takes a complete different form for Marie and Gabriel, two young adults with Down syndrome. Aware of how people look at them, they try to reach their dreams otherwise. This short movie documentary treats, in an intimate way, their most personal aspirations. Marie and Gabriel don’t want to live in parallel.