si près si loin
Michel Favre
Switzerland | 2012 | 73 min
World premiere
Language : Spanish
Subtitle : French
Carmen Perrin, an established artist working in Geneva, travels to Bolivia to learn more about her father. She returns to the island where he lived to show the local people the film he made at that time. A partner in this project, Michel Favre follows Carmen closely, underlining the ethnographic scope of her father’s work and the emotional importance of her journey.
On a potter’s workbench, a spiral slowly takes shape. This image – illustrating the work of Carmen Perrin, a noted artist – leads on to her plan: to travel to Bolivia to find out more about her father. Though she has grown up in Geneva, she decides to return to the island where her father once lived to show the local people the film he made many years earlier. Viewing the film reawakens the memories of the local people, laying their past bare. For Carmen, meanwhile, it is an opportunity to renew her links with a place loaded with the weight of history, where an age-old culture still survives. This return to her roots is enriched by unexpected encounters, becoming a source of fresh inspiration. A partner in this project, Michel Favre follows Carmen closely, underlining the ethnographic scope of her father’s work and the emotional importance of her journey.
Carlo Chatrian
Translation BMP Translations