Visions du Réel invites a major personality of the cinéma du réel in order to reward their career with an honorary prize.
Maître du Réel 2018 is Claire Simon, who will also give a Masterclass during the Festival.
CLAIRE SIMON OR THE GREAT NOVEL OF ORDINARY LIFE
Visions du Réel will award the Sesterce d’or Prix Raiffeisen Maître du Réel to the French director Claire Simon on Monday 16 April 2018, 20:30. During the Festival (13–21 April), a retrospective will be dedicated to the filmmaker, who will present a Masterclass on Tuesday 17 April 2018, 10:00: a unique opportunity to discover her universe, fluctuating between documentary and fiction. With a laudatio by Frédéric Maire, Director of the Cinémathèque suisse A collaboration with Cinémathèque suisse and ECAL.
Masterclass
Claire Simon taught herself filmmaking, via editing. She moved towards documentary film, even if her aesthetics would never cease to blur the boundaries separating documentary from fiction. In the 1990s, she shot Récréations and Coûte que coûte (Locarno Festival), which won a number of prizes, then made a foray into fiction with Sinon, oui (1997, Festival de Cannes), inspired by… a true story. By taking possession of authentic accounts, that prove her taste for the fictional, Claire Simon next filmed her daughter’s flirtation (800 km de différence/Romance, 2001, FIDMarseille) then, among others, Les Bureaux de Dieu (2008, Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Cannes), in which she had both famous and amateur actresses perform, or Le Bois dont les rêves sont faits (2016). She has just finished a new feature-length film about adolescence entitled Premières solitudes (Berlinale).
In addition to being present in Nyon during the Festival, Claire Simon will also attend the screenings of Géographie humaine and Gare du Nord (2013) in Lausanne on 18 April. These two screenings are part of the retrospective the Cinémathèque suisse dedicates to the filmmaker in collaboration with Visions du Réel.
Photo: Claire Simon ©Nicolas Guérin
Filmography
- The Village (Le Commerce et la Vertu) (2018, work in progress) 10x 30′
- Young Solitude (Premières solitudes) (2018) 100′
- Le Bois dont les rêves sont faits (2016) 155′
- Le Concours (2016) 135′
- Géographie humaine (2013) 101′
- Gare du Nord (2013) 119′
- Les Bureaux de Dieu (2008) 122′
- Ça brûle (2006) 110′
- Mimi (2002) 105′
- 800 km de différence/Romance (2001) 78′
- Ça, c’est vraiment toi (1999) 116′
- Sinon, oui (1997) 120′
- Coûte que coûte (1995) 100′
- Comment acheter une arme (1993) 23′
- Histoire de Marie (1993) 20′
- Récréations (1993) 54′
- Scènes de ménage (1992) 10×5′
- Les Patients (1990) 75′
- La Police (1988) 22′
- Une journée de vacances (1983) 30′
- Mon cher Simon (1982) 30′
- Moi non ou l’argent de Patricia (1981) 30′
- Tandis que j’agonise (1980) 40′
- Madeleine (1976) 13′