Sundance Channel Shorts Competition 2016: The French winners

Jury Award

The Jury Prize is given to Gagarine (2015) by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh.

Already winners of the Grand Prize of Hlm sur cour(t) in 2015, the short film portrays the public housing called Yuri Gagarin in Ivry-sur-Seine in France through the eyes of a young man — played par Idrissa Diabaté (Bandes de filles) — who makes cosmonaut dreams.

The Yuri Gagarin public housing has fascinated Fanny Liatard and Jeremy Trouilh by its architecture but also by the fact that the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, that is to say the first man who was the first human to journey into outer space, visited it in 1963. The two directors have even found TV archives on this event. So they wanted to film this big public housing before its destruction planned in 2018 and their approach makes the film Gagarine one of his few works that change our look at on what surrounds us after seeing them.

The writing and subtle direction by Fanny Liatard and Jeremy Trouilh, the metaphorical image of Victor Seguin and the electronic music of Nathan Blais show us around in weightless conditions in the last vestiges of a now over time architecture that will soon disappear.

In short, Jury Prize of du Jury du Concours de courts-métrages Sundance Channel édition 2016, the French short film Gagarine is a very nice poetic and science fiction film.

Vimeo Audience Award

The Vimeo Public Award is given with 587 votes to George by David Coudyser.

This story brings surprise and fear in the heart of the home: a disturbing man (Guillaume Briat) arrives with Anna (Clara Camblor) at Marion/Lucy (Sandra Dorset)’s home to see a mysterious George. Professorial voice of the stranger contrast with growing feverishness of Marion and the near silence of Anna.

Adapted from the short story Est-ce que Georges est là ? by Tim Corey, this film written and directed by David Coudyser is a very efficient short film. The very bright image and the increasingly tight framing with no way out by Benjamin Minel and the music with disturbing theme by Valerian Cadici make this George a well done fantasy and distressing film.