a - some of our animation work
L’ASCENSION DU HAUT MAL (writer, director)
Pierre-François is six years old when his older brother is suddenly struck down by a strange illness, the Grand Mal. In 1967, this is what we called epilepsy, and traditional medicine couldn’t treat it. So, the family dive headlong into all sorts of bizarre therapies: magnetism, spiritualism, macrobiotics…
But for Pierre-François, his parents have got it all wrong. It’s clear to him that to defeat the Grand Mal they’ll have to gather the armies of Genghis Khan, conjure up the ghosts of their ancestors, and even climb a mountain so dark that it swallows daylight…
Adapted from david B.’s multi award winning graphic novel.
FRANCE – produced by Les Films du Poisson and Acqua Alta in collaboration with Tchack animation studio with the support of the CNC (avance sur recettes), Media Creative Europe, Pictanovo and the Grand Est – see teaser.
REVIEWS:
Emma Deleva from Ecran Total wrote:
“Il n’était pas simple de s’attaquer à l’adaptation de la série autobiographique de David B., “l’Ascension du Haut Mal”. Le réalisateur Christophe Gérard s’y est attelé avec brio en respectant l’univers, les envolées graphiques de l’auteur et la profondeur des noirs”.
Zainab from Comics & Cola wrote:
“Even from those brief glimpses, it looks pretty good, ominous and moving”.
Matt D. Wilson from Comics Alliance wrote:
“Animated adaptation of David B.’s ‘Epileptic’ gets stunning trailers (…) helmed by director Christophe Gérard which appears to nail the look and feel of the comic”.
REVE D’ENFANT (writer, director)
Floating barges, water that suddenly takes human form and rainfall that leaves puddles deep enough to drown in… Is this merely a child’s dream?
FRANCE, 2015, HDV, COLOUR, 11 minutes – produced by Papy3D, Studio Train-Train and Pictanovo in association with France Télévisions, and with the support of the CNC, the Maison du Film Court, the Sacem, the Procirep and the Angoa – see teaser.
47 selections to date – several in Catégorie A International Festivals’ competition.
Best Animation Film – Festival of Nations 2016
Best Animation Film – Bangalore Short Film Festival 2016
Grand Prize (Best Film) – KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival 2016
Jury Distinction for Music – Paris International Animation Film Festival 2016
Jury Special Mention – Pontarlier Animation Film Festival 2017
Nominated for an Emile Award – European Animation Awards 2017
Diffusion: France 2
Cinema distribution: RADi and Flux
PEACE ON EARTH (writer, director)
An animation film of scathing irony where the human race is trapped by what is even more destructive than its actions: its inactions! A single colour is used to express distance, movement and texture.
FRANCE/BELGIUM, 2009, 35mm, COLOUR, 14 minutes – produced by Les Films du Nord, La Boîte,… Productions, Lunanime and le CRRAV Nord – Pas de Calais for France 2, and with the support of the Centre National de la Cinématographie, the Région Nord – Pas de Calais, the Procirep, the Angoa Agicoa, the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Communauté Française de Belgique et du Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds – see extract.
26 selections to date – several in Catégorie A International Festivals’ competition.
Diffusion: France 2
b - some of our live-action work
NON-LIEU (writer, director)
This six minute documentary explores how the sense of belonging affected in contradictory and irreconcilable ways the life and identity of RAYMOND DEVOS, a French speaking writer whose work strived to demonstrate the absurd in which life is entangled.
It is set in-between two disused border posts, in a zone which technically belongs to neither of the two adjacent countries, France and Belgium.
NON-LIEU tackles the concepts of belgitude, francophonie and patoiserie. By digging into the inherent conundrums of administrative definitions and popular understandings, the notion of “place” takes an interesting turn indeed.
France, 2013, HDV, COLOUR, 6 minutes – produced by criticalspace
Cinema distribution: Flux
HISTOIRE DE VOIR (writer, co-producer, director)
An inverted romantic comedy made in the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, which questions visual representation. Praised for both its radicality and its understated humour, it is a fiction about paintings and the way official ‘guide-book’ interpretations collide with what people could see in them.
FRANCE/UK, 2006-2009, DV Cam, COLOUR, 8 minutes – produced by La Compagnie Des Indes in association with criticalspace and with the support of the Délégation de la Culture.
Jury Special Mention – Festival of Nations 2006
Diffusion: France 2
ANNOTATIONS (writer, director)
Based on Christophe’s fiction writings, some of which were published in the literary monthly EUROPE, this film is a poetic, humorous portrayal of one man’s heroic attempt to record the minute details of which life is made.
UK, 2001, 35mm, B&W, 14 minutes – produced by Poisson Rouge Pictures Ltd in association with Saltire Film and Television Productions and Retina Productions and with the support of Scottish Screen National Lottery Fund.
REVIEWS:
Nick Bradshaw from Time Out wrote:
“Layering images and texts, ideas and allusions into a portrait of a self-occupied ‘annotator’ – a man trying to find a space for himself between the lines of life – it’s quite recondite, but dreamily different, and packs a plaintive beauty”.
Adam Pew from the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television wrote:
“Full of Borgesian riddles and allegories, and criss-crossed with puzzles and stories, Christophe Gérard’s whimsical, imaginative short is a delightful fable of worlds within worlds”.
17 selections to date – several in Catégorie A International Festivals’ competition.
Diffusion: SKY
Cinema distribution: City Screen
c - some of our commercials
A PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER (director)
In this piece all lines up when the cops are little better than the crooks.
UK, 2008, DV Cam, COLOUR, 60 seconds – viral for The Young Vic Theatre.
RUN A MARATHON (director)
As seen through the eyes of a runner, the world is bumpy and limited to a bit of road.
UK, 2005, DV Cam, COLOUR, 30 seconds – commercial for Grainger & Wolff.