Description - Diffusions - Message - Bonus - Details - Team - Thanks

Descriptif : One after the other, soldiers are beating a war prisoner up while their chief is looking on. Everything stops when one of them refuses to go on, giving a pain in his feet as an excuse. The movie is inspired by images displayed in spring 2004 about abuses on war prisoners in Abou Ghraib in Iraq. The shooting took place on 09/25/2004 in Paris with a Sony VX 2000 camera (and a Super 8…).

Diffusions :

Planned :

Past :
15-18/2005 : International Experimental Film Festival of Carbunari 2005 organized by Florean Museum (Romania)
17-27/10/2005 : III International Festival of Cinema and Human Rights (Spain)
01/11/2005 : Ciné Gilou, as first part of "Punishment park" (Peter Watkins) in bar La Caravane - Paris (France)
08-09/10/2005 : M'as-tu-vu, projection of short movies in bars and in a cultural place in La Rochelle / France
08-09/10/2005 : Festi'VAL D'OISE du Court in Cinéma Le Conti in L'Isle d'Adam (95 - France)
02-10/09/2005 : Off-Courts Trouville Festival - 6th meeting of short movies France / Quebec - Progr "Politik" (France)
12/08/2005 : Leith Film Festival - Edimburgh (Scotland)
08/07/2005 : Les Jours J d'Orléans - Musée des Beaux-Arts of Orléans (France)
17/06/2005 : Festival Nouveau Cinéma by Cinéfac - Université Paris 2 - 75006 Paris (France)
15/06/2005 : Festival Nouveau Cinéma by Cinéfac - Forum des Images - 75001 Paris (France)
14/06/2005 : Festival Nouveau Cinéma by Cinéfac - Studio des Ursulines - 75005 Paris (France)
19/05/2005 : La Nuit du court métrage by Bulldog Association - Amiens (France)
13/05/2005 : Projection "Les yeux dans l'Oreille" by L'Oreille qui Traîne - Rouen (France)
12-13-14/05/2005 : 4th Altkirch short movie Festival (France)
29/04/2005 : 4th Video festival of Orléans - Orléans (France)
09/04/2005 : Festival Clap 89 - Théâtre municipal - Sens (France)
03 et 04/04/2005 : 3rd International Human Rights Film Festival of Paris - Cinéma Bastille - 75011 Paris (France) - as first part of the long movie "Baghdad 2003" (documentary) by Incounter Productions Collective. Followed by a public discussion with the directors.
22/03/2005 : Nuit des Arts - La Loco - Paris (France)
28/01/2005 : Projection "Arkham & co" - La Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris (France)
27/01/2005 : Projection Courte I - UGC Ciné Cité Bercy - Paris (France) - Prix spécial du jury.
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Message :

Why start with faces alone?
The goal of this short movie was to show men and women first, before telling what they are doing (beating a prisoner). When medias denounced the mistreatments of Abou Ghraib in Iraq, the soldiers involved were immediately associated with their acts. Public opinion and medias often talked about them as "inhuman", as if they were not part of humanity. But this is a way to reassured oneself and not to feel concerned. Through this short movie, I tried to get those men and women back to men and women so that anyone can feel concerned by what others did. This is not a way to excuse what they did. To underline that they are men and women, that they stay part of humanity, is a way to insist on the fact that they are responsible for what they did. It is also a way to let anyone ask themselves about what they would have done in such a situation of collective violence.

What do the videos / photos during the end titles mean?
Those short videos that end with a photo featuring a soldie posing in front of a dead man are inspired of an array of real photos. Soldiers in Abou Ghraib did actually posed the same way. They posed and smiled in front of the body of a dead man. Among several details from the real photos are : the small wound of the dead prisoner at the temple, the gauze on his eyes, turquoise gloves and black cap for the soldiers, their smiles, their poses and their thumbs up. To see two reference photos, please click on the following links : : photo 1 - photo 2 (we don't present those photos on this website out of property right reasons).
The goal was to remind people of these photos, that were largely diffused and then disappeared. These pictures also remind of the state of mind in which some abuses committed in Abou Ghraib were made. After a short movie that presents hesitating soldiers, those pictures are a little bit at the opposite, showing soldiers proud of what they do and having fun by doing it. Like reality, this short movie is neither white, neither black.

What are the sentences under the photos for?
Between the ridiculous undertitles (comments) of real-tv shows and the "like / dislike" of Amelie movie, those sentences may, at first sight, make lough. These sentences are, in comparaison with the photos like the smiling soldier with the dead man : they are unwarrantedly ridiculous. They also aim at showing that those men and women had a life before Abou Ghraib and that they made choices in their daily life, choices sometime against the will of relatives, of a group or against a norm.
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Bonus :

Photos of the movie and of the set available on the Website of the set-photographer, Pierre-Alain DANIS : click here
You can also vwatch the movie (but only the French version here, contact us for the English version).
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Details :

Super 8 or not?
An incident with a roll obliged us to use only pictures from the DV camera. Luckily, the all the scenes filmed with the Super 8 camera were simultaneously filmed with the DV camera. This enabled us to use the DV pictures with a "Super 8 filter" (made by Nathanaël in post-production).

What did they kick?
During the shooting, the actors had a bag full of sand which they were kicking during the "Super 8" pictures.

How long did the shooting last?
One week-end : 25th-26th of September 2004. Saturday afternoon was for rehearsals, to get interactivity and complicity between the actors as they would have to pretend being in a group energy the day after. They didn't know each other and I wanted them to get in touch first before shooting the film, as it is "collective" violence. It's about group so I had to make them feel a group. So we spent one afternoon kicking in the bag, talking about how we felt about it and trying to build different characters psychologies.
On Sunday, the shooting lasted the whole day. Between the actors, there was a good complicity, sometime too much and it caused some concentration problems (!). But this was the price to pay to get a minimum of credibility about their knowing each other and living with each other in a strong group. This was the main goal.

Pimples and shadows under the eyes for the actors? Skin problems or make up?
Concerning the tired faces and the pink irritation pimples on the skin, it was make up. Soldiers on the war field are logically tired and tensed. The skin had to reflect this situation. This was the task of Katty. The back of the prisoner on the ground was also something to work on for Katty. And she did a good job.
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Team :

With (in oder of appeanrence) :
A man - Erik SEBAKHI
A man - Franck MONSIGNY
A man - Julian MANIRAHO
A woman - Stéphanie SENECHAL
A man who says no - Loïc LEFEBVRE
A man on the ground - Najib TOUAHRIA
A woman - Mélanie VIDAL
A man - Franck SUEDE
A man (voice off) - Yves DENNECY

Technical team :
Director / Screenplay - Julien DAILLERE
Ass. Director / Camera operator / Editor - Nathanaël LE SCOUARNEC
Director of photography (DV) / Chief cameraman - Benjamin RUFI
Director photography (Super 8) - Emilie LACOURT
Make up - Katty BRAILLON
Set photographer / End titles photos - Pierre-Alain DANIS
Making of - Bruno "Kéro" Van RENTERGHEM
Set design / Costumes - Julien DAILLERE
Ass. décoration - Aurélie CHAMP et Isabelle BUSIGNY
Ass. set designer - Raphaël EYBERT-BOUILLIER
Translation (French -> English) : Korre FOSTER
Subtitles (English) : Nathanaël LE SCOUARNEC
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Thanks to :

Les Cinéastes de la Colline
Association GOGNOL / Hervé LAMERRE
Maison du Film Court (MFC)
Régie Immobilière de la Ville de Paris (RIVP) :
Gilbert ULRICH, Stéphanie AMOROS,
Dominique FOULON et Marc ZIELINSKI
AXA J-L CORNET / Delphine
RVZ / William
Loca-Images / Patrick
Emilie LACOURT

Special thanks to :

Kristell LOZAC'HMEUR
Yannick DANGIN-LECONTE
Boris PARDON
Johan GAUTHIER
Sébastien MACCARI
Pierre et Marie LINANT-de-BELLEFONDS
Corinne SOULIE for her advice,
Antoine FRANGE for his encouragement.