Venue(s)
Online Activity
Documentary film for all audiences, 7 years +
Streaming link available from Wednesday, March 3, 2021, at 4:00 p.m. to Sunday, March 7, 2021, at 11:45 p.m.
Streaming available in Canada only
A conversation with film director Noémie Géron (Collectif NAPEN) and two artists portrayed in her documentary was held online on our Facebook page, Thursday, March 4 at 11 a.m.
Facilitator: Jeanne Bertoux, Casteliers artistic committee member
The conversation is now available for viewing (FREE) : click here
Documentary film and conversation in French
This documentary film celebrates three great ladies of French puppetry who have opened the doors to their workshop and their memories.
They are: Greta Bruggeman, Émilie Valantin and Maryse Le Bris, and they build puppets, stage productions and champion a rich, modern and interdisciplinary art form.
This beautiful film gives us the opportunity to observe these women as they work, and to appreciate the precision of their handwork, their very personal outlook and the strength of their message.
Over the course of the interviews, a wealth of knowledge is revealed. Greta, Émilie and Maryse recount how they revolutionized forms, reinvented techniques and left wood and cloth in the attic to make way for endlessly renewed materials.
A tribute to these women, to puppets, to the joy derived from such work, a true expression of intelligence at your fingertips.
Greta BRUGGEMAN, co-founder of Compagnie Arketal, has designed and built the puppets for most of the company’s shows, often directing and designing sets for the company’s productions. She is regularly invited to teach at theatre and art schools in France, Spain, Israel, Greece and Cuba. She has collaborated on films produced by the Victorine studios in Nice. She is a graduate of ESNAM (1981).
Emilie VALANTIN is the co-artistic director of Compagnie Émilie Valantin, which she co-founded in 1975 in Montélimar under the name Théâtre du Fust. She wears many hats within the company: playwright, stage director, scenographer, puppet builder, actor. She remains true to traditional techniques (hand and rod puppets…) and applies her virtuosity to incisive texts that are mainly intended for an adult audience. With her strong affinity for literary works and rebellious spirit, she stages classical plays, folk tales, forgotten poets and living authors while striving for the same high standards. Her company is among the most renowned French theatre troupes, having been featured at, among other venues, the Théâtre National de Chaillot and on several occasions at the Festival d’Avignon.
Maryse LE BRIS has designed and built more than 400 masks and puppets for numerous French companies since her debut in 1957 with the Théâtre aux Mains Nues. A graduate of the Académie de la Grande-Chaumière (Paris), she has worked with René Collamarini.
RELEASE: 2019
RUNNING TIME: 64 minutes
Video
Photos
Photos: Luna Boutchan
Company
Since its launch in 2012, the Collectif NAPEN has been pursuing an approach that has now been embraced by many venues and show creators: collective creation. NAPEN’s rapport with creativity covers not only organization, but also to performance experience. In this respect, its members belong to the ranks of artists who do not want to distinguish between form and substance and are resolutely engaged in a wider contemporary trend that considers puppetry as a means to serve a theatrical practice based on texts and ideas.
Credits
Written and directed by: Noémie Géron
Director of Photography: Luna Boutchan
Sound: Sara Monimart, Phuong Lan N’Guyen and Florence Jaubertie
Editor: Myriam Ayçaguer
Casteliers and the Collectif NAPEN wish to thank the Consulate General of France in Québec City for its support.
