La Grande Vacance
(in development with Darjeeling production)
La Grande Vacance is a non-binary film, part essay film and part speculative fiction, exploring images of exhaustion and exhaustion through images. Starting from a streaming practice that sees individuals film themselves sleeping to monetize their downtime, the film offers a critical and poetic reflection on the contemporary entanglements between fatigue, (self-)exploitation, and online screen practices.
La Grande Vacance follows the investigation of Seyrig, a character from the near-future, through various digital archives, texts, and other relics from the early 21st century, and wonders: what is our contemporary fatigue about, and what role do the images we consume and produce incessantly play in our collective inability to slow down our pace of life? What will remain of these audiovisual streams in a few generations? What perspective will our descendants hold on the perpetual state of stimulation and generalized exhaustion we currently live in?
This project has received the support of:
CNAP : Soutien Image / Mouvement, soutien en développement
Région Bretagne - FACCA : aide Innovation recherche et nouvelles écritures
CNC - FAIA : aide au développement
CNC - FAIA : aide à l’écriture
It has been developed in the context of a residency at Le C.L.O.S, organized by the Festival International du Film Indépendant de Bordeaux, and was one of the twelve projects presented at FIDLab (FIDMarseille) in June 2024.
The research project from which the film emerged was presented publicly at the American University of Paris (November 23), the University of Groningen (May 24) and during a keynote conference talk at the Université Côte d’Azur (November 24).
The film’s original development was supported by the Lucerne School of Design, Film and Art (Switzerland).