A hot taxidermist, a creature from the abyss, Rwandan cyber-pirates and mutilation addicts. When the Reunion Island festival aligns works that are transgressive, innovative or in very good bad taste.
At the Even Not Fear festival, in the wild south of Reunion, the films follow one another and are not alike. Among the short films, let’s first mention a strange, kitsch and quirky object, Stuffed, by Briton Theo Rhys, a 19-minute musical with a backdrop of… taxidermy. Consider the meeting of a taxidermist with a good quintal, obsessed with the idea of stuffing a human being, and a middle-aged man, who wishes to stop aging and freeze for eternity the last vestiges of her youth. But will the improbable love between the two protagonists put an end to this radical artistic project? Beautiful work, oddly morbid, with a series of simply magnificent songs.
And the Temple, by Canadian Alain Fournier, is a marvel, a nightmare in 3D once morest a backdrop of Lovecraftian tentacles. We are in a German submarine that sows terror in the North Atlantic during the Second World War. But following an explosion in the engine room, the u-boat sinks into the abyss, while madness seizes the soldiers, and – perhaps – a mysterious creature approaches… Incredibly well produced, the film connects the pieces of bravery, presses constantly on the accelerator and the final sequence amazes by its force and its beauty.
On the feature side, the Rwandan film Neptune Frost definitely worth a look. In the form of a rather brilliant and energetic musical comedy, the duo Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman mix computer hackers and afro-futurism, moments of grace and awkward sequences, beautiful rap discoveries (“ Martyr Loser King ”) and cheap stuff. A French release is planned very soon for this cyber-UFO.
Sick of myselfBut the best film of the selection remains undoubtedly Sick of myself, by Norwegian Kristoffer Borgli, which follows the strange descent into hell of Thomas and Signe, a handsome, trendy but toxic couple who constantly challenge each other and embark on a morbid competition. When Thomas rises to fame, the egocentric Signe plunges into depression and decides to do everything – even disfiguring himself – to steal the show from his companion. It’s funny, uncomfortable, a concentration of itchy hair between Ruben Ostlünd and David Cronenberg when the director dives into body horror. Contraband, the clever Norwegian balances on narcissism, the sidereal vacuum of the time, networks, and soon the stigmata of the disease become the manifestation of our weaknesses, our renunciations and our inconsistency. Strong !
« Experimenting with new forms of storytelling »
The final word to Aurélia Mengin, big boss of Not even afraid. ” Despite the death of my father a week before the festival, my co-organizer Nicolas Luquet and I successfully completed the 13e edition of the Festival. Moviegoers from all corners of Reunion Island gathered in Saint-Philippe in the Wild South of the island to attend many of Not Even Fear! The school screenings were also a great success. Since its creation, the festival has welcomed more than 13,000 schoolchildren.
The festival is also associated with women, more than a third of the films in our program are directed or co-directed by women. Since its creation, Even Not Fear has highlighted talented female directors and thus helped to feminize fantasy cinema.
The DNA of our festival is to unearth films that stand out from the box, UFO films that question our social conventions, liberated films that experiment with new forms of narration without being afraid of destabilizing the public. Our ambition is to take viewers out of their comfort zone by programming works that offer moviegoers the opportunity to free their gaze and their perception by moving the cursors too often stuck in a pre-chewed daily life. »
NOT EVEN AFRAID
www.festivalmemepaspeur.com
By Marc Godin