During my childhood, I lived through traumatic events, suffered abuse, which had impacted who I am forever. I often bring those moments back from the past, trying to understand the meaning, in order to stay alive. Today, I can unravel this story and I desire to tell it. But I have no picture of my childhood, nor of my family. They all have been lost or destroyed. I decided to tell my story, borrowing records from others.
Country
FranceYear
2024Length
76'
Category
DocumentaryScreenplay
Pierre PrimetensEditing
Nicolas BancilhonSound editing and mixing
N’Dembo ZiavoulaProduction
Gaëlle Jones, Perspective Films & Lætitia Mikles, Night LightDistribution
Perspective FilmsSynopsis
Biography
Born to a Portuguese mother and a French father, after studying fine arts and cinema Pierre Primetens embarked on a diverse range of projects, including an autobiographical trilogy: A Trip to Portugal, Holidays in Mauritius, and Against You. His film The Festival of the Boys delves into the rites of passage of young boys in northern Portugal. His work has been featured at French and international festivals, including Clermont-Ferrand, Doclisboa and Premiers Plans. His latest film, La photo retrouvée, premiered at the États Généraux du Film Documentaire in Lussas.
Statement
How can I tell my past without archives, without memories?
It all began with a photo I stumbled upon by chance — a photo from my mother’s wedding, where everything starts. My mother, Portuguese, married a man she had never met. He was also Portuguese and had already emigrated to France.
She later separated from him and met my father, who was French. With no images from my childhood and few memories of my own, I had to rely on family stories and borrow other people’s images in order to remember. This is how the idea for the film was born: my story begins with a recovered photo and unfolds through the images and memories of others. In this collision of places and eras — from the 1920s to the 1990s — I explore family structures and the many faces of patriarchy. My approach takes on an almost anthropological dimension, while preserving the raw emotion of an intimate quest: that of a mother erased from family history.
— Pierre Primetens
Archival materials
I mainly focused on two collections of amateur footage. First, I worked with a collection from the French region Centre-Val de Loire during a residency. It contains 1.700 digitized hours. I watched all of it in fast motion – it took me a month. Whenever a detail caught my attention, or an element related to a specific idea or intuition, I selected it. I ended up choosing about 1,000 files. Later, during another residency at Chalet Mauriac, I explored the Mémoire filmique archives from the Cinémathèque of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
Screenings
Extra
