Noon in the Cemetery
Short film by Benjamin Poumey
Switzerland, 2020, 8’02
A luncheon on the grass among the tombs.
While the living are living, the voices of the dead are floating.
Synopsis
When lunch-time comes, the “Cimetière des Rois” (“Cemetery of Kings”), downtown Geneva, fills up with residents, workers, employees, students of the neighborhood. People come alone, in pairs, with friends or colleagues, to have a snack on the grass or to take a break on a bench.
The living and the dead share a same space.The film makes them share a same time.
Mixing contemporary Super 8 footage of the cemetery and sound archives of personalities buried there, NOON IN THE CEMETERY is a short essay film, a kind of experimental documentary.
If it was a painting, it could be a Vanitas, “a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death”.
Selections
- Peripheries International Experimental Film & Video Festival, Boston (USA)
- Short Movie Club – Documentary Competition, Minsk (Belarus)
- Instants Vidéo Numériques et Poétiques, Marseille (France)
- Festifreak, Festival de cine independiente de La Plata (Argentina)
- Lucca Film Festival e Europa Cinema – Short Competition, Lucca (Italy)
- Storie Parallele Film Festival – Short Docs Competition, Salandra (Italy)
- Visioni Urbane – Living the Urban Competition, Bologna (Italy)
- International Portrait Film Festival – “Collective Portrait” Section (Bulgaria)
- Cinearte en la Frontera, XI Encuentro para Cinéfagos (Venezuela)
- Suapaustas Laikas International Experimental Film and Arts Festival (Lithuania)
- Harkat 16mm Film Festival, Harkat (India)
- Directed by Benjamin Poumey
- With the “Cimetière des Rois” users.
- And the voices of Ernest Ansermet, Jorge Luis Borges, André Chavanne, Jeanne Hersch, Ludwig Hohl, Léon Nicole, Grisélidis Réal, Gerhart Riegner, Alice Rivaz, François Simon, Michel Soutter, Sergio Viero de Mello.
- Music : Frank Martin “Etudes II. Pour le Pizzicato” par Ernest Ansermet et l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
- Sound Mix : Martin Stricker
- Color Timing : Blaise Villars
- Graphic Design : Dimitri Delcourt
- With support from Ville de Genève – Bourse d’aide à la création
- Shooting Format : Super 8
- Film Stock : Kodak
- Processing : Andec Filmtechnik
- Scan : Gamma Ray Digital
- Screening Format : DCP / HD File
Support
With support from Ville de Genève – Bourse d’aide à la création