Last year I decided to try volunteering. In order to feel belonging to a community, help others and growing my network.

I stumbled upon a squat in my neighborhood in Paris, the Doc. I instantly fell in love with the place, and soon found a festival looking for volunteers, the FLiMM.

One year later I responded again to the call for volunteers, and rejoined the amazing team for this year’s edition. Here follows my experience!

Prepa

While the planning and organization started a long time ago, the setup for the event began one week prior to the screenings.

As many helping hands were already involved, and I am not currently living in Paris, I only came by on Tuesday, to help in the kitchen in the morning and for whatever in the afternoon.

The sub-teams were incredibly well organised, no stress and rush; much efficiency. By Wednesday the movie halls were ready, and a special pre-screening took place Three promises.

Finishing touches on Thursday and by Friday night everything was ready to welcome the public. This was way smoother than last year!

Off Program Movies

Four movies were screened outside from the festival’s scope.

Three Promises, in collaboration with the association La Palestine sauvera le cinema. I found it very enjoyable and powerful. It is an archive documentary, edited by the son of the camera operator. Her being a mother who during the second Intifada, around year 2000, films with a camcorder her family and some night strikes as seen from a civilian house. After finding these tapes more than 15 years later, Youssef decides to make something of them. I found very interesting having his mother tell stories from the time, effectively having her shooting the footage and adding the voice-off commentary, but not being the filmmaker.

Zetwal is a tribute to poetry. The protagonist, a pure artist. The talking heads throughout the movie lend themselves to the game, going along with the play-believe of the young astronaut wannabe even 30 years after the events. It is very touching, and inspirational for my own ambition. I am rather sad I could not find the theme song online, it is incredible.

Looking for Langston is very gay and touching. A mix of sad mourning and celebration of life. Sun’s a settin’, This is what I’m gonna sing.

Body of a poet, tribute to Audre Lorde is a manifesto of community based decision making, frontline pleasure activism.

While Zetwal is a documentary showing pride of a nation, the other selected movies are a representation of subcultures, with very different characters and stakeholders. There is a larger degree of freedom in them, much less rationality and more commitment.

Selected Movies

I got the chane to watch a lot of movies. I will try to be brief about them.

  • Pampas Marcianas living between documentary and science fiction it is the collective work of several artists. I appreciated the narrative instrument to box slices of martian life, but I found some of the more fictional scenes not that interesting. Overall a good watch.

  • Ceci est mon corp is a very powerful display of “ordinary” life. The filmmaker films himself for hundreds of hours in an attempt to honestly display the aftereffects of repeated pedophilic abuses on his persona. The trigger warning on the poster is not to be taken lightly.

  • Lapin Hyper Lent is probably my favorite. While not so pleasing if evaluated according to movie canons, the ideas behind it make for an extremely powerfool document. Patient of a psychiatric clinic express themselves through images and words, gifting us a window over their inner world.

  • Urban solutions strikes strong against colonialism. I heard multiple comments about how it is an already heard of story, but the recits of gatekeepers are honest and a real addiction to the talk. Also probably the best refined among those I have seen.

  • Roikin <3, an heartwarming tale of a summer break, used to raise awareness over some problems Marseille’s kids have to go through. Being set in Italy gives it bonus points. While maybe the most fictional video, it is also painfully real, making it a valid document.

  • Un circulo que se fue rodando has not gained my heart. The idea is interesting, but the constant stream of words with no clear connection makes it very hard for me to follow. Like going from one conversation to another for half an hour, most of these being in a secret language only the actors know.

  • Sous le feu is a well directed documentary. Rather standard, it explores some topics I feel close to me, being a valley boy myself. Appreciated.

I had a great time, and feel so happy to have been part of this!