From 7 p.m., a fiction will be shot and broadcast live. A single sequence shot of more than an hour, no second take for this second round of the presidential election…
It’s a real event that will take place today in Lot-et-Garonne, and which has already been echoed by many national media, newspapers, magazines, TV and radio: the live broadcast of a film made in a single take, from 7 p.m. to 8:05 p.m. “The Day of Glory” is indeed a very unique experience, but will we finally see the difference on our television, or in cinemas? Not sure, because the film crew prepared this adventure very well. And yet, the technical performance is exceptional: the actors, the technicians, but also the musicians of the soundtrack, will work live for a little over an hour, and the film will end with the discovery (by the actors and by spectators) of the result of the second round of the presidential election.
A fiction dependent on reality
This “meta cinema” was made possible because the territory of Lot-et-Garonne corresponded to the expectations of the two directors, Jeanne Frenkel and Cosme Castro. Pierre-Henri Arnstam, president of the filming reception office (BAT47, structure welcoming film crews in Lot-et-Garonne), former news director for France Télévisions, and president of the Sarlat film festival, explains why and how the cameras finally settled here, and how daunting the challenge is.
“I have known Cosme Castro for a very long time, I am a friend of his father Oscar Castro, who was a very great playwright and director. Cosme had come to shoot a short film in Lot-et-Garonne, then I welcomed him in 2021 in Villeréal because he was looking for a site to shoot a live film. He wandered around Lot-et-Garonne, and found that Laroque-Timbaut was the ideal place, with its houses, its small bistro, the proximity to the countryside. In short, everything corresponded to his project, which is purely incredible since it is a single sequence shot lasting an hour!”
The BAT47 bends over backwards to facilitate the project, which will become reality today.
The teams have been there for some time, and everything has been studied, reviewed and corrected: plan A, the weather is nice; Plan B, it’s raining. All occurrences have been considered, as well as the result of the presidential election because the actors will have to react according to the vote of the French…
“The risk-taking is enormous, underlines the former great TV pro, because it is certainly fiction, but it is totally dependent on reality. I will not take a single example, that of the transmission of images. Over 65 minutes, the team cannot afford to have a micro signal cut. So it takes cable, miles of cable, to protect them from the rain, for example. We can also take the example sound: as the decor is alive, and no perimeter is cordoned off, it will be necessary to ensure that a truck or a tractor does not pass too close.”
In real life
Because the village of Laroque-Timbaut will not be cordoned off during filming? “No, the technical team and the actors will evolve in real life, adds Pierre-Henri Arnstam. They will be in and around the village, which will reflect what it is every day. If the filming took place in a bigger city, it would probably be more delicate. But no publicity has been made on Laroque-Timbaut as a filming location, so everything will happen normally.” The cinema would be, according to an illustrious director, the truth 25 times per second: we will have, this evening, the purest illustration.
Yesterday, no excitement at Laroque-Timbaut, although in the control room and behind the cameras the stress was rising crescendo. And today, what will happen to Pierre-Henri Arnstam? “I will not be there. For years, as director of information or as mayor of Villeréal, I missed the evening of the second round of the presidential election. There I will take advantage of it, with an eye on TV, and another on my tablet to watch Glory Day.” A title very well found for Laroque-Timbaut, Lot-et-Garonne village star of an evening.
The project. Directors Jeanne Frenkel and Cosme Castro will shoot the feature film “Day of Glory” from 7 p.m. to 8:05 p.m. The film will be shot “live” and broadcast live and simultaneously in around thirty cinemas throughout France (in Lot-et-Garonne: the Confluence in Aiguillon; Les Montreurs d’images in Agen; L’Odyssée in Casteljaloux; Le Plaza in Marmande; Le LIbery in Monsempron-Libos; L’Utopia in Sainte-Livrade-sur-Lot; Le Rex in Tonneins) and on Arte.tv. The end of the film will reveal the result of the second round of the presidential elections live. This project is the result of a six-week writing residency in Lot-et-Garonne.
The synopsis. It is 7 p.m. on April 24, two brothers (Felix Moati and Julien Campani) meet in their native village of Lot-et-Garonne following years of estrangement. In an hour, France will discover the face of the new President of the Republic. It’s amazing how five years of absence can separate men, hearts and votes. The sequence plan can begin. It will last 1:05, and it is entirely live.