Chants d’Amour

Chants d’Amour

film (45 mins)

This project started out with a proposition from Hélène Cancel, director of the theatre Le Bateau Feu in Dunkirk. As the theatre was closed for renovation work, from 2011 to 2013, they had set up a programme where artists worked together with local residents on a series of creative projects.  Sylvie Reteuna and I were to work together with a social centre, (la maison de quartier Soubise).

We decided to base our project around love songs, and to make a film. Each participant chose a love song that was particularly important to them, and which was to serve as a base for a filmed sequence. After a period of workshopping, these sequences were filmed in studio and all over Dunkirk. A group of fantastic students from Dunkirk Art school made scenery and props including a mermaid’s tail…  The sequences were woven together in the edit with a choral piece, made up of questions about love written by the participants.  It was, appropriately, the year of the transit of Venus, which also got into the film.

A project by :  Kate France and Sylvie Reteuna / Video :  Kate France / Music : Eric Sterenfeld / with: Annick Laignel, Stella Delegorgue, Viviane Géhin, Déborah Fockeu, Murielle Cappelaere, Adolorata Fischetti, Andrée Richet, Dominique Vermeersch, Léon Vermeersch, Christiane Diana, Sandrine Bosman, Paul-Octave Verdun and Auguste-Richard Verdun and the participation  of ESA art students Raphaëlle Timarche, Clément Mouteau, Maïté Logez and Morgane Proyart / Administration : Conduite accompagnée, Christine Tournecuillert / Communication : Mina de Suremain