Before the Sky Came to Light

As he usually does, Denis Gheerbrant has left alone, with his camera and sound equipment. This time around he has decided to discover a country he has never visited before : Rwanda. The year is 2003, that is to say nearly ten years after the genocide. With the help of Déo, met in Kigali, who will be both his guide and his translator, the filmmaker meets the people who have survived,with only one objective in mind : trying to understand.

Cédric is a child like millions of others. The only difference is that the little boy is seriously ill and must spend six months in a hospital. Fortunately, the medical staff are well aware that Cédric, like other kids named Steve or Dolores, must - above all else - live his child's life.

They tell us about the childhood that is going away, about the city that scares us and that makes us envious. They talk about good and evil, religion and school results. They are in fifth grade and live the age when one is born into the world. Denis Gheerbrant was able to capture, to arouse the word, between childhood and adolescence, between life in the neighborhood, at home and at school. Filmed in Gennevilliers, in an environment known to be difficult, the film holds up a mirror to us through singular conversations that reveal a surprising maturity in the face of the challenge represented by the entry into adolescence, and further into society.

An intimate portrait of the small shops and shopkeepers of the Rue Daguerre in Paris, a picturesque street that has been the filmmaker’s home for more than 50 years.

A trip to the seaside campsites, along the coast from Spain to the Camargue, like the other side of society, a cleverly mixed deck of cards. Each time the filmmaker pitches his tent, he gets to know his neighbors. And, as is often the case in these cases, they tell a stranger what they wouldn't tell their relatives. They talk about themselves, about what matters to them.

This effective, straightforward story about the birth and on-going life of a young man at the beginning of the 20th century reflects the political and social history of his time. Adrien (child, Bertrand Sautereau, adult, Serge Dominque) was born in a field to a mother who had lived as a shepherdess. She died when he was born. As he grows up under harsh treatment by his grandfather, World War I and labor unrest simmer and explode in the background. Finally rebelling against his grandfather, Adrien runs away and stays with another family for awhile. But the lure of finding his place in the world continues. He gets a job and eventually falls in love, though nothing in his life comes along easily and some of the biases he experiences have more than social nuances as Europe simmers again on the way to World War II.

After studying literature Denis Gheerbrant joined the famous film school IDHEC (now FEMIS) in 1969. When he left the school he had obtained two degrees, one in direction and the other in cinematography. From 1972 on he has had several activities in the movie field: assistant camera operator, cinematographer,and mostly director of (excellent) documentaries. Gheerbrant is also an independent photographer.

After committing a hit and run, a man insinuates himself into the lives of the victim's family.

A hill in Kyrgyzstan inhabited by men, women, some children. Smoke, birds, a waste dump like a Leviathan. Among them, a traumatized former soldier, a grieving mother, young people deprived of a future, living and facing their destiny.

Max, a 40 years old gay, chases in railway stations. He takes his "prey" to the Parisian park, the Bois de Boulogne."Manège" will be the genesis for his later feature film "La chatte à deux têtes" (2002).

A female scientist performs experiments on three college girls that turn them into drooling, murderous mutants.

Jeanne is a woman who is driven by her very active conscience. She attempts to assuage her idealistic bent by trying out life as a nun, but this doesn't work out. After she leaves the convent, she takes a job at a factory, where the callousness of management spurs her to become a labor activist. Her efforts are marked by great persistence and fervor, but she lacks any kind of diplomacy or persuasiveness, and as the years progress, she manages to alienate everyone in her life. By the end of the film, there is only one way that she can see to resolve the horrible situation she finds herself in.

Twenty minutes from the Champs Élysées, chambermaids of a hotel go on strike for the first time with the help of an experienced trade unionist.

Rue de Lappe - crucible of all the generations of all the imigrations, with their cultures and their music, their love stories and their solitude... Denis Gheerbrant, alone with his camera and his tape recorder shows us a separate world in the heart of Paris.