Clouds

Director Marion Hänsel has always been fascinated by clouds that she has gazed at, photographed, and also filmed. This dream material gave her a very simple, daring idea - to devote a feature to her obsession. The film maker has always believed that these masses of water that trace their intriguing choreography between heaven (the “largest canvas in the world”) and Earth are sufficiently abstract to lead spectators to a world of delirium. She filmed images of clouds in twelve countries - from France to Senegal, through Scotland, Namibia and South Africa - against skies painted by René Magritte, William Turner, Eugène Delacroix and other masters. The lead throughout consists of letters written by Marion to her son, sensitive descriptions of anguish and expectation of the mother and film maker that went together with pregnancy, birth, uncertainties of childhood, separation of the parents, and the imminent independence of the boy (today he is 18). In the version in French, the letters are read by Catherine Deneuve; in Spanish, by Carmen Maura, and in English, by Charlotte Rampling.

Born in Marseilles in 1949, she acted in films by Agnés Varda and Luis Buñuel. In 1977, she started a producing company and made a short film, Équilibres. The first feature she directed in 1982 was The Bed, followed by Dust (1984, 12th Mostra), awarded at the Venice Festival. She has also directed Les Noces Barbares (1987, 12th Mostra), The Maestro (1989, 14th Mostra), Between Heaven and Earth (1991, 16th Mostra) and Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (1995, 19th Mostra). In 1999, she was part of the International Jury of the 23rd Mostra, where her film The Quarry was shown. At 25th Mostra, her Clouds (2001) has been shown with No Man’s Land, by Danis Tanovic, which she co-produced. She has also directed Sounds of Sand (2006, 31st Mostra) and Black Ocean (2010, 34th Mostra).

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA