about
Medium-length film - 56 minutes
Feet in the Sky was made during the music tour for "Orchestre Miniature in the Park" on the banks of the Atlantique ocean in France, in september 2010.
The film made in the framework of Dasein Projekt www.dasein-projekt.com, a series of films Franco-Germanic produced since 2008. Feet in the Sky is the 7th film.
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Estelle Beauvais
PRODUCED BY Dasein Projekt
WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF Alise, Annett, Barbara, Christoph, Friedemann, Janek, Julien, Karen, Klaus, Laureline, Leonie, Marc, Mawil, Nadja, Noël, Ralf, Sandy, Susanna, Suska, Tina, aka Orchestre Miniature in the Park.
FILMING September 2010 (France) / October and december 2010 (Berlin)
PRODUCTION 2011
RELEASE July 2011, Babylon Kino (Berlin)
To see the film
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intentions
Note of intention by the author - director
When Klaus Cornfield, singer for the Orchestre Miniature in the Park, asked me in August 2010 if I would like to make a film about their orchestre in the framework of my film series Dasein Projekt, I didn’t hesitate for long.
There were two reasons why.
Firstly : I already knew Klaus and members of the orchestra well, I had already had the opportunity to film them in Paris and Berlin, we had many friends and collaborators in common. A large part of the artists already represented in the Dasein network had brought me towards them. Dasein Projekt consists of a series of films where the notion of networking and exchange is primordial. So for me it was evident that the family representing the Orchestre Miniature in The Park had its place in the Dasein Projekt.
Secondly : this film had the principal idea to follow the orchestra in France and Spain, on the banks of the Atlantic Ocean. September was promising to be very sunny and simply, the summertime was a great theme for the orchestra, who uniquely play cover songs of which the titles have the word « sun » or « summer ». The sun, and what I call the « sun sensation » constitutes an important notion in my videographic work. Making a documentary in the frame of this trip gave me the occasion to treat it from another angle.
SUN, therefore as the protagonist of this film.
The members of the ORCHESTRE MINIATURE IN THE PARK as messengers for the sun, as an excuse to film. They portray the characters who render history intelligible.
I don’t need to be under the sun to perceive it, above all it is a strong mental image. Thinking of the sun, feeling it, takes me back to my childhood, to something simple. It also takes me back to the moments of my life that have marked me and subtily reappeared despite me, « without any warning » each time gave me a feeling of perfection. I call this the « sun sensation ». This piece of a driving sensation that will return. It’s the hope of come-back which lets me get up in the morning with the strength and the will to live the beautiful strong moments that our existence offers. The perfect moments.
And so, a film about THE SUN.
And the sensation that it provides, THE SUN SENSATION
So I said « ja! sehr gern! » to Klaus, and I followed the Orchestre Miniature in the Park aka OMP during their musical tour in September 2010, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and in France. Because, after all, we haven’t ever been to Spain.
OMP, is a group of 30 street musicians, based in Berlin, originally from many different countries and different backgrounds. They often reunite to play in the streets, in the parks, or in cafés and clubs when it’s too cold outside.
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The construction of the film
This film is built on a double temporality.
First, the trip : a musical human wandering for 8 days along the Atlantic in France. It was 20, sometimes 25 degrees, they spoke loudly, quickly, together, alone, they played music from morning till the last hours of the night. It was summer, it was hot, and the wind drove us mad. The video camera was discrete, observing, accompanied by life. We lived the sun. Secondly, afterwards : the interview period in Berlin, the intimate moments : each member of the OMP individually, and the video camera. Winter was softly coming, everyone had gone back to the warmth of their houses and their everyday lives. The video camera gathered its memories and emotions from each member, like a confident. We spoke of the sun. And of the sun sensation.
The trip taken with OMP wasn’t always easy. Most of the members of the group qualified their organisation as chaotic themselves. It was not easy to move and live with 25 people whilst respecting the wishes and freedom of each person.
For me, what came out of the trip above all, what was given to me to observe, is a succession of intense emotions, extreme, pleasant or upsetting, punctuated by latency.
The latency deriving (it must be said) by the completely random organisation and incertitude of the group (could we speak to them about organisation ?) also being revealed. Indicative of a time to be taken. Of an imposed time to live. The ultimate instants of emotion (such as the concerts, the hours at the beach, the shared moments) only became stronger.
So it’s with what each person kept as a strong moment, « perfect », that I’ve chosen to make the film.
That’s why it is important to interview different members of the group a few weeks after the filming (in winter) in another environment (Berlin, the home town).
I questioned them about their relationship with the sun, what it evokes for them. I also asked them what a perfect moment represented for them. Quite quickly and naturally, they spoke of their group and of the trip to bring out images that were very strong for them.
Each group member had their own preferred moment to tell me about, and as a consequence a hazy idea, subjective and as all memory, also devoured by the light (overexposed) by what is the « sun sensation » and the sentiment of perfection that it procures.
« At that precise moment, it was beautiful, it was strong, it was intense. It was perfect. »
Whilst editing, the shape of the film, I confronted (mixed up) the answers so that we can’t distinguish weather or not the characters are talking about the sun, their trip, their life in general, and so creating a memory space in common.
Estelle Beauvais
Translation (French to English): Kate Murray
contact
Dasein Projekt Production >
Estelle Beauvais >
Orchestre Miniature in the Park >
FEET IN THE SKY - Les pieds dans le ciel
Feet in the Sky was made during the music tour for "Orchestre Miniature in the Park" on the banks of the Atlantique ocean in France, in september 2010.
feet in the sky,moovmix