F I L M F E S T I VA L G U I D E Design by Nicole Racquel
F IL M F ES T I VA L GUIDE Design b y Nicole R acquel
THE
IN THE FILMS OF
JEAN-PIERRE JEUNET ETERNAL RETURN OF CALAMITY & WHIMSY
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These are hard times for dreamers — amÊlie
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Film Festival Guide
contents
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Daydreams on Roof tops Š 2011 Nicole Racquel Design A ll rights reser ved. Manufactured in t he Un ited States of A merica. Includes references and sources.
Film Festival Guide
6 ABOUT THE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE THE DIRECTOR
14 FEATURED FILMS DELICATESSEN CITY OF LOST CHILDREN AMÉLIE A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT MICMACS 26 CREATING A STYLE JEUNET AND COTERIE CINÉMA DU LOOK
34 GET YOUR BEARINGS THE SANTA MONICA PIER MORE PLACES TO SEE
42 FESTIVAL INFO EVENTS PRACTICALITIES LOCATION 48
SOURCES
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FRIDAY, August 5 to SUNDAY August 7 Santa Monica Pier Santa Monica, CA 2pm to 11:30pm
Daydreams on Rooftops marks the first American film festival that celebrates the body of work of French film director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. More than just a regular film festival, Daydreams on Rooftops offers a weekend getaway full of whimsy and imagination that will bring the inner-child out of all of us. Whether you want to learn about a modern French cinematic style, get nostalgic in carnival galore on the beautiful Santa Monica Pier, or immerse yourself in the fantastical (and sometimes dark) film plots, you’re in for an amazing experience! We hope that you’ll enjoy this opportunity to explore outside the vast supply of Hollywood productions that are littered at our feet and discover the humor and unique aesthetic of an up-and-coming international director. We look forward to welcoming you!
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Film Festival Guide
FRI
schedule 2:00 PM
FESTIVAL OPENS* Get there early for parking and to witness the beautif ul sunset over the Pacific! Rides in Pacific Park and all carnival booths will be open all day for festival guests. A variety of traditional French dishes will be available before the film.
7:30 PM
DELICATESSEN THE PIER MAIN SCREEN
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To kick off the film festival, the opening night screening will start around dusk.
11:30 PM
FESTIVAL CLOSES
2:00 PM
FESTIVAL OPENS* Come early to partake in all the festivities! Ride the rides in the Pacific Park, listen to live music, play and win carnival games, see the art exhibits and eat delicious French cuisine.
2:30 PM
ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE FR ANCE* THE PACIFIC STAGE
3:45 PM
YANN TIERSEN* THE PACIFIC STAGE
5:00 PM
CITY OF LOST CHILDREN THE SCREENING TENT
7:30 PM
SUN 2:00 PM
2:30 PM
THE SCREENING TENT
Watch Jeunet discuss how Amélie was created.
11:30 PM
FESTIVAL CLOSES
R APHAËL BEAU* THE PACIFIC STAGE
4:15 PM
PHOTO CONTEST RESULTS*
5:00 PM
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT THE SCREENING TENT
7:30 PM
MICMACS THE PIER MAIN SCREEN
10:00 PM
THE MAKING OF MICMACS THE SCREENING TENT
AMÉLIE THE MAKING OF AMÉLIE
FESTIVAL OPENS* All the same fun and games as the day before! Make sure to enter in the photobooth contest before 3:00pm!
Watch Jeunet explain the story behind the story.
THE PIER MAIN SCREEN
10:00 PM
Film Festival Guide
SAT
11:30 PM
FESTIVAL CLOSES *More information on festival events on page 42.
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THE DIRECTOR
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The prevailing thread among film scholars has been to view Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s work with a certain amount of disdain, claiming that it is too slick, too heavily influenced by advertising aesthetics, and too sentimental—in short, too popular, but not populist enough. Jeunet has been dismissed for being too theatrical and not spontaneous enough—in other words, not being Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, or François Truffaut. But today, slick is the new populism: the revolutionary spontaneity of May 1968 has transmogrified into flash mob happenings meticulously orchestrated by text messaging, podcasts, and blogs that, like the best art, appear deceptively spontaneous to spectators and bystanders. As theatrical and minutely planned as Jeunet’s films are, they show us what populism looks like today: advertising, music videos, and computer games. The energy that Jeunet’s films tap into is as highvoltage as the energy that fueled the French New Wave. The new digital
and academics, some of whom regard his films with
by Jeunet and his collaborators are similar in impact to
suspicion. Critics have dismissed Jeunet from what they
the (at the time, equally new) technologies of handheld
see as his privileging form over content. Yet this form
cameras and high-sensitivity film stock that allowed
itself contains a great deal of substance. Jeunet’s films
Godard and Truffaut to take to the streets to make their
are historically resonant in their association with the
films. In the 1990s and 2000s, however, the streets
late twentieth-century French film style known as the
have become clogged with cars whose drivers are sealed
cinéma du look and in their persistent allusions—even
off from the world through which they glide. To be fresh and innovative is no longer only a question of going outward but of turning inward as well, to the real and virtual worlds of memory, history and desire. And it is to these worlds that
Film Festival Guide
and computer graphics-based technologies embraced
To be fresh and innovative is no longer only a question of going outward but of turning inward.
Jeunet has gone and to which he returns
within films set in the post apocalyptic future, which
with each new film.1
nonetheless manage to look kind of like costume
Jeunet never attended film school; he is entirely self-taught. Born in 1953 in Roanne, he came from a modest background. His father worked for the phone company, and his mother was a schoolteacher. He began making animated films while working for the telephone company and then graduated to filming advertisements and music videos—leading him on his journey toward feature films. Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a rare breed, a popular auteur.
dramas—to earlier film movements such as German Expressionism, French Poetic Realism, and the French New Wave. Most of Jeunet’s films thematize issue such as the technological mediation of social relations, cultural anxieties surrounding advances in biotechnology, and the repression and subsequent revelations of historical trauma, especially in the context of war and decolonization. Looking to the past and the future, his films invariably express the millennial anxieties and preoccupations of the present.2
He has written or co-written all but one of the screenplays for the films he has directed and has maintained a high degree of creative control over his projects, which bear his distinctive stylistic stamp and have been generally well regarded by critics. At the same time, his films have attracted increasingly large audiences, with accordingly expanding budgets. Yet his success is also his Achilles’ heel: his popularity with audiences has tended to marginalize him among film scholars
JEUNET’S FILMOGR APHY 1978
L’évasion (short)
1980
Le manège (short)
1981
Le Bunker de la dernière rafale / The Bunker of the Last Gunshots (short)
1984
Pas de repos pour Billy Brakko (short)
1989
Foutaises / Things I Like, Things I Don’t Like (short)
1991
Delicatessen
1995
The City of Lost Children / La Cité des enfants perdus
1997
Alien: Resurrection
2001
Amélie / Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain
2004
A Very Long Engagement / Un Long dimanche de fiançailles
2009
Micmacs / Micmacs à Tire-Larigot
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FEATURED FILMS
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Even artichokes have hearts — amÊlie
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FEATURED FILMS
delicatessen FRIDAY at 7:30pm | The Pier Main Screen Somewhere in a mist-shrouded future and apocalyptic rubble of France, Louison (Pinon), a grieving ex-clown takes a job as janitor in a crumbling apartment block. Unbeknownst to him, this job has a history and previous incumbents have ended up on the neighbor’s dinner table via the butcher’s block. When Louison innocently falls for the butcher’s myopic daughter, the knife is held back to spare her feelings. But as bellies begin to rumble, will love be enough to keep Louison out of le charcuterie? This troubled romance provides the bare skeleton on which Jeunet and Caro hang their dreams. A hugely enjoyable film Delicatessen welds comedy and magic into a bizarre, grotesque fantasy of an oddball dystopian future. The directors are constantly playing curve ball with the audience’s expectations and nothing can prepare you for the sheer weirdness of
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it all. Every so often, the plot stops to watch a scene spiral off at a
Film Festival Guide
tangent, such as a rhythm of creaking beds rippling out through the
Dark Comedy | Fantasy
hotel, or two boys spying on an old man breeding escargots in his
Rated R for violence.
flooded apartment.
Runtime 99 minutes
Combining the cruel humor of Grimm’s fairytale stories, with the spirit of Terry Gilliam and that peculiarly French knack for putting magic into film, this feverish tale of star-crossed lovers and small town cannibalism has endured as a true masterpiece of the fantastique. With Delicatessen Jeunet and Caro gave the world a canny and confident calling card for that most coveted of talents—commercial 3
arthouse cinema.
Released 1991 Writers Gilles Adrien ; Marc Caro ; Jean-Pierre Jeunet Producer Claudie Ossard Codirector Marc Caro Music Carlos D’A lessio Cast Pascal Benezech, Domin ique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac, Jean-Claude Dreyf us, and Karin Viard
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FEATURED FILMS
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city of lost children La cité des enfants perdus
SATURDAY at 5:00pm | The Screening Tent Following the success of Delicatessen, collaborators Jeunet and Caro inspire the weird and the wonderful with outlandish extravagance in The City of Lost Children. Armed with a bigger budget and enough special effects to sink a computerised battleship, this dark and highly imaginative fin de siècle is a fantastic fairytale and visual treat. Evil man Krank locks himself away in an isolated off-shore rig, surrounded by six cloned henchmen, a dwarf assistant and an uncle who exists as a brain in an aquarium, plagued by migraines. But worse still, Krank is unable to enjoy sweet dreams. In true Chitty Chitty Bang Bang child-catcher fashion, Krank becomes children’s public enemy number one as he kidnaps the innocent in order to ‘steal’ their dreams. Street freak strongman One, along with the assertive Miette, are forced to track down the deranged Krank after One’s angelic brother is stolen, meeting a catalogue of nightmarish characters along the way.
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The frenetic deluge of beautiful, grotesque and surreal images can be exhausting, but viewed as a stream of conscious carnival of ideas, much like dreams themselves, then the unfolding chaos slots into place.
Adventure | Fantasy Comedy | Sci-Fi
Jean Paul Gaultier’s costumes are a constant source of ingenuity and
Rated R for disturbing and grotesque images of violence and menace.
wit, with more of a wink than a nod to Berlin’s famous transvestite
Runtime 112 minutes
Charlotte von Mahlsdorf in the uniformed dressing of The Octopus.
Released 1995
Angelo Badalamenti’s haunting, fairgroundesque score provides a suitably sinister and lilting melody and the final morphing sequence is
Writers Gilles Adrien ; Jean-Pierre Jeunet
a digital delight.4
Producer Félicie Dutertre Codirector Marc Caro Music A ngelo Badalamenti Cast Ron Perlman, Dan iel Emilfork, Judit h Vittet, and Domin ique Pinon
FEATURED FILMS
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amélie
Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain
SATURDAY at 7:30pm | The Pier Main Screen This beguiling fable whipped up a storm of controversy in France, with some commentators arguing its nostalgic whimsy brushed the realities of modern multicultural Paris under the carpet.5 A sugar-rush of a movie, Amélie has what could be called meticulous clutter, a placement of imagery that covers every square centimeter of the screen. Jeunet’s sense of humor gives the movie heart; his real affection for the medium can be seen in all the funny little curlicues and jottings around the action. It has a hypnotic sense of romance; it’s a fable filled with longing, with a heroine who constantly flirts with failure. Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant, with whom he wrote the script, tell the story of Amélie (Tautou) from her conception through her adult life, which is filled with the kind of offhand cruelty normally found in the novels of John Irving and Kurt Vonnegut. Her parents are described as ‘’a neurotic and an iceberg,’’ and part of Amélie’s charm is that she
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is preternaturally levelheaded and survives her youth with her dark, glowing eyes wide open.6 A waitress in a Parisian café, Amélie sees it as her mission in life to right wrongs and improve the lives of her customers. But she proves rather less successful at bettering her own lot, despite falling for a handsome
Comedy | Fantasy Romance Rated R for sexual content. Runtime 122 minutes Released 2001
loner (Kassovitz) with his own bizarre quest.
Writers Guillaume Laurant; Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jeunet uses the city as more of a character than a mere backdrop,
Producers Jean-Marc Deschamps and Claudie Ossard
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although the director’s surreal and timeless vision shouldn’t be confused with the place seen by tourists (or even ordinary citizens). This is
Music Yan n Tiersen
Jeunet’s city, where magic abounds in the strangest places, where fate
Cast Audrey Tautou, Mat hieu Kassovitz, Ruf us, and Domin ique Pinon
and predestination lurk around every corner, where photographs talk, and where one sprightly young woman can orchestrate small miracles.8
FEATURED FILMS
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a very long engagement
Un long dimanche de fiançailles
SUNDAY at 5:00pm | The Screening Tent Sébastien Japrisot’s WWI-set novel is a story about five French soldiers who are sentenced to death for self-inflicted wounds (done so they could be evacuated from the front lines) and condemned to march out into the no man’s land between the Germans’ trenches and theirs, it’s a tricky mixture of war epic, black comedy, and heart-stirring romance that would have left many a filmmaker a bit flummoxed.9 The film is seen largely through the eyes of Mathilde (Tautou), an orphan with a polio limp, who senses in her soul that her man, Manech (Ulliel ) is not dead. After the war, Mathilde comes upon a letter that seems to hint that not all five soldiers died on the battlefield, and she begins the long task of tracking down eyewitnesses and survivors to find the Manech she is sure is still alive and needs her help.10
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With his typically pixie-ish sense of humor, Jeunet brings a light and jaunty tone to a tale that could easily have been rendered brooding and overly artful. Bits of absurdity speckle throughout the story, from Mathilde’s incongruous tuba-playing to a subplot about one of the dead soldiers’ lovers who resorts to impossibly complex methods of killing 11
off those she believes responsible for his death.
The implacable logic of
revenge and the barbarity of war are softened by the voluptuous beauty 12
of Jeunet’s visuals and the magic of his storytelling.
Drama | Myster y Romance | War Rated R for violence and sexualit y. Runtime 133 minutes Released 2004 Writers Guillaume Laurant; Jean-Pierre Jeunet Producers Francis Boespf lug, Bill Gerber, Jean-Louis Mont hieux, Fabien ne Tsaï Novel Author Sébastien Japrisot Music A ngelo Badalamenti Cast Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Jodie Foster, Domin ique Pinon and Ticky Holgado
FEATURED FILMS
micmacs Micmacs à tire-larigot
SUNDAY at 7:30pm | The Pier Main Screen A whimsical whirligig of a movie, Micmacs is filled with salvaged metal and salvaged lives, where a bullet to the brain brings insight and a bunch of clever misfits bring a couple of weapons-making giants to their knees. This good-versus-evil fable soon reveals itself to be a wide-ranging philosophical playground for French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet as he settles into a Paris junkyard where discards, human and otherwise, find a second life. Orphaned when his father was blown to bits by a land mine, Bazil (Boon) grows up to be a video store clerk, content with passing the time watching classic films. A stray bullet from a drive-by changes everything. Removing it from Bazil’s brain box, as someone puts it, would turn him into a vegetable, and so it stays. In short order, he is discharged by the doctor, then his boss, then left waiting to see if the bullet will
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eventually discharge him too. Both Bazil and his world are infused with a surreal circus quality to start with, but that sensibility grows sharper when he’s taken in by a collection of freaks who make their home in the scrap yard. In Paris,
Film Festival Guide
even the dumps are beautiful. There’s a contortionist (Ferrier) who
Comedy | Crime
folds herself up in the fridge when she needs to get away from it all and a cannonball man (Pinon) still pining to make the Guinness Book of
Rated R for some sexualit y and brief violence.
Records. There are seven in all, as Jeunet says he was reminded of Snow
Runtime 105 minutes
White’s Seven Dwarfs.
Released 2009
With screenwriting collaborator Guillaume Laurant, Jeunet created
Writers Guillaume Laurant; Jean-Pierre Jeunet
in this film an unexpected charm, with irony rich like candy and worth savoring along with the surprise. When Bazil happens upon a street
Producers Frédéric Brillion, Gilles Legrand
occupied by the company that made the land mine that killed his father,
Music Raphaël Beau
the conglomerate responsible for the bullet that penetrated his brain turns out to be right across the street.13 Something must be done to stop the killing and the maiming, and like much of Jeunet’s work, the story’s
Cast Dany Boon, A ndré Dussollier, Nicolas Marié and Domin ique Pinon
outcome displays the director’s quirky brilliance.
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CREATING A STYLE
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Film Festival Guide
Doggie farts, gladdens my heart — a very long engagement
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CREATING A STYLE
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Jeunet’s entire career has been defined by a series of collaborative partnerships, some more long-standing than others. Of these working relationships, perhaps the most influential was his collaboration with the illustrator and graphic artist Marc Caro. Jeunet met Caro at a animation festival in Annecy in the 1970s, and the pair clicked right away. They made two short animated puppet films together, L’évasion (The Escape; 1978) and Le manège (The Carousel; 1979), before going on to make two more short films in the 1980s, Le Bunker de la dernière rafale (The Bunker of the Last Gunshots; 1981) and Pas de repos pour Billy Brakko (No rest for Billy Brakko; 1983). Marc Caro has described the way in which he and Jeunet complement each other: “[Jeunet] loves Charlie Chaplin, whereas I love Buster Keaton; he loves Truffaut, while I love Jacques Tati; he likes dogs, and I like cats. What we have most in common is the love of making things. It’s true that we had this desire, more than anything else, to make a film, rather than simply to help another director or filmmaker” (Alexandre Drubigny (23 Nov 2005). Auto/Focus Interview with Jeunet).
where the special effects aren’t neccesarily seen but
their careers, and their second feature-length film, the
can enable things to be done that couldn’t have been,
visually opulent Cité des enfants perdus, solidified their
previously…in turn, reviving the writing, in propos-
reputation as filmmakes with a strong visual aesthetic,
ing new things, thanks to the new techniques” (Alain
a predilection for dystopian fantasy, and an off-kilter
Schlockoff and Cathy Karani (18 July 2006). Excerpts
sense of humor. Both films credited Jeunet and Caro as
from a conversation with Jeunet and Caro).
codirectors, and the filmmakers worked in tandem, with Caro taking more responsibility for the films’ visual style and Jeunet working more with the actors. Caro has explained their working relationship thus: “Jean-Pierre handles the direction in the traditional sense of the word, that is, the direction of the actors, etc., while I do the artistic direction. Beyond that, in the
Film Festival Guide
The pair’s feature debut, Delicatessen, launched both
Other members of Jeunet’s coterie have maintained closer ties with the director. The producer Claudie Ossard, who had helped Jeunet and Caro finance Delicatessen,
“What we have most in common is the love of making things.”
day-to-day workings of the shoot or preproduction, it’s obviously much more of a mixture. We write together, film together, edit together. According to each of our specialties, sometimes we’ll be drawn to what we do best. There’s a real complicity between us” (Frank Debemardi (14 March 2006). “Entretien avec Marc Caro.” Faille Temporelle).
stayed with Jeunet throughout the next decade of his career, producing his two subsequent French films. Pierre-Jacques Bénichou has worked as casting director on all Jeunet’s films except for Alien Resurrection, when there was a Hollywood casting director in place. The special-effects supervisor Pitof, who has worked on several of Jeunet’s films, and the director of photography Darius Khondji, who had worked on Delicatessen and La
This almost symbiotic partnership—like that of the
Cité des enfants perdus, when with Jeunet to Hollywood to
conjoined twins characters in La Cité des enfants perdus,
work on Alien Resurrection. The set designer for Jeunet’s
who finish each other’s sentences and scratch each
French films, as have the screenwriters Guillaume
other’s arms—came to an end when Jeunet and Caro
Laurant and Gilles Adrian. Bruno Delbonnel has worked
were offered the chance to direct the fourth Alien film.
on all of Jeunet’s films within several different roles,
Caro was not interested in working on a film over which
from screenwriter and sound technician to director of
he lacked creative control, whereas Jeunet relished the
photography. Several actors have appeared in more than
challenges and constraints that come with working on a
one of Jeunet’s films, including the late Ticky Holgado,
big-budget Hollywood movie. Although Caro was even-
Serge Merlin, Rufus, Ron Perlman, Jean-Claude Dreyfus,
tually persuaded to spend three weeks in Hollywood
Audrey Tautou, and Dominique Bettenfeld. Dominique
doing some costume and set design for the film, he then
Pinon has acted in all of the director’s feature films as
parted company with Jeunet to pursue a solo career in illustration and computer graphics. Caro subsequently declined to participate in any of the later “making-of” documentaries or interviews to accompany the DVD editions of the pair’s films, and the two have not worked together since. This parting of ways could perhaps have been foreseen in their differing responses when asked, in a joint interview, “Cinematically, what are your aspirations?” Caro replied, “I feel I’d like to explore other narrative forms, ones in which there’s a little media interactivity. What especially interests me is developing universes, and multimedia can enable me to explore a universe that I will construct.” Jeunet responded in a somewhat different manner: “I’d like to continue writing screenplays…something like Forrest Gump,
well as the short film Foutaises (Trifles; 1990).14
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Jeunet has been at the cutting edge of French cinema’s use of computer-generated images (CGI) and digital technology to produce special effects. At the time of its release in 1995, La Cité des enfants
locations into an enormous set. This blend of authenticity
perdus could boast the greatest number of digital effects
and artifice evokes aspects of the 1980s and 1990s cinéma
of any French film ever made. Marc Caro has recalled
du look, the late 1950s and early 1960s French New Wave,
working on that film and the sea change that the advent
and the big-budget, postwar cinéma de qualité. What is
of digital technology made possible: “We came from the
distinctive about Jeunet’s films is the way they combine
world of animation, where you’re used to doing every-
the past and the present to create a style that is discern-
thing image by image…And then, digital technology
ible across all his films, even the two he made with Marc
came along and turned everything upside down, and hit
Caro. Jeunet’s trademarks include a quirky sense of
us over the head, but at the same time, we were partly
humor; characters who exhibit slightly neurotic, ritualistic
responsible for it, actively participating in the innova-
behavior or “magical thinking;” obsessive collections;
tion—it’s really fascinating. You sort of get that feeling
and a preoccupation with feet (the large number of shots
of pride that ‘pioneers’ sometimes have” (Alexandre
at ground level in all of Jeunet’s feature films). Jeunet is
Drubigny (23 Nov 2005) Auto /Focus interview with
renowned for his meticulous preparation and storyboard-
Jeunet). When Jeunet went on to release Amélie in France
ing, and his films have sometimes come under attack
in 2001, it was the film’s use of digital technology to
for perceived lack of spontaneity. He has claimed, how-
transform Paris into an idealized version of itself that
ever, that he is not wedded to his storyboard: “‘I’m the
attracted the most attention. Digital technology allowed
first to say that a storyboard isn’t made to be respected
Jeunet both to film on location and to transform his
but to be transcended. If an actor finds a brilliant idea
CREATING A STYLE
or if you think of a way of shooting the same thing
the viewfinders of machine guns proliferate). Jeunet’s
differently and better, then you have to change every-
films offer a tremendous degree of surface pleasure, but
thing, no doubt about it. In other words the storyboard
what makes them so interesting for the film analyst is
is like a highway: you can turn it off from time to time
their imaginative use of the surface or “look” of the films
to follow prettier country roads, but if you lose your
as a vehicle with which to conceal and convey a great
way, you can always return to the highway’” (Laurent
deal of information about contemporary cultural preoc-
Tirard (2002). Moviemakers’ Master Class).
cupations, which, like Edgar Allen Poe’s purloined letter,
The high degree of advance preparation, the emphasis on visual style, and the obvious influence of advertising and music video aesthetics underscore Jeunet’s loose affiliation with the films and filmmakers of the cinéma du look. The cinéma du look emerged in the early 1980s, beginning with Diva (dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix; 1981), a cult film hailed by Fredric Jameson as the first “postmodern” French film ( Jameson (1990) Signatures of the Visible) that soon became the signature film of the look style. The directors most closely associated with the cinéma du look are Beineix, Luc Besson, and Léos Carax, who made a number of stylish thrillers characterized by sleek, colorful urban settings, a high degree of artifice, and what Sue Harris has called “a celebration of the
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visual and sensory elements of the filmic text” (Harris (2004) “The Cinéma du Look.” European Cinema). The influence of commercials and pop music videos can be seen in virtually every frame of look films. In these films, critics have often commented, plot and character development seemed to be little more than pretexts for the dazzling visual display. In his study of Beineix, Phil Powrie describes the look effect as “the immersion of the spectator, not in some kind of ‘depth’ but more paradoxically, in an infinite ‘surface.’ That surface is seen as the screen surface: the spectator does not go beyond the surface of the narrative, which functions more like a peg on which to hang the coat of style. The spectator does not go beyond the surface of the character, because it is not the psychological complexity of the character which gives pleasure, but the way in which the character behaves. In other words, what matters is what can be seen, what is presented, rather than what can be worked out, or constructed” (Phil Powrie (2001) Jean-Jacques Beineix). The emphasis on what can be seen also results in a fascination with technologies of vision and visual representation, expecially in Micmacs and Amélie (telescopes and binoculars but also photography, painting, postcards, video, television, and cinema) and A Very Long Engagement (in which point-of-view shots through microscopes, magnifying glasses, cameras, and
can be hidden in plain sight.15
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Film Festival Guide
GETTING YOUR BEARINGS
Mom always told me to avoid twisted girls — micmacs
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GETTING YOUR BEARINGS
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On September 9, 1909, and after sixteen months of construction, the Santa Monica Municipal Pier opened to the public. Thousands of people swarmed onto the 1,600-foot-long concrete pier to enjoy a festive day of band concerts, swimming races and the novelty of walking above the waters of the Pacific Ocean. While originally built to satisfy the city’s sanitation needs, the Pier quickly became a magnet for the fishing community and fueled the imagination of local entrepreneurs. Within just a few years, plans were put forth to build an amusement pier adjacent to the Municipal Pier. Famous carousel manufacturer Charles I.D. Looff arrived in
building still stands today with the distinction of being Santa Monica’s first National Historic Landmark. In 1918 Looff passed away. His family continued to run the Pier until 1923, when it was sold to the Santa Monica Amusement Company, a group of local businessmen intent on expanding the famed amusement man’s dream. In 1924, their plans included expanding the Pier’s thrill rides, beginning with the removal and replacement of the Blue Streak Racer with a larger, faster roller coaster—the Whirlwind Dipper. They also added one of the richest chapters in the Pier’s history—the La Monica Ballroom.
February 1916, purchasing the land immediately south
Vast and ornate, the ballroom consumed so much of
of the Municipal Pier for development. Looff provided
the Pier that, when viewed from the beach, it appeared
Santa Monica’s north beach with its first successful
as a monumental building floating magically above
amusements, including the Blue Streak Racer coaster.
the sea. In 1948, famed country swing music star Spade
The Hippodrome housed the Pier’s Carousel, and the
Cooley televised his weekly T V program from this
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Thousands of people swarmed onto the 1,600-foot-long concrete pier to enjoy a festive day of band concerts, swimming races and the novelty of walking above the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
GETTING YOUR BEARINGS
ballroom; it was the first time ever that a musical T V show was ever televised live. Almost as soon as the Pier was conceived in the early 1900’s the notion that a breakwater and yacht harbor would make an ideal companion to the Pier circulated regularly. In 1933 this became a reality, and Santa Monica Yacht Harbor was born. The harbor was home to a collection of yachts, fishing boats and a cruise liner to Catalina. It was also the home base for a shuttle service to offshore gambling operations run by mobster Tony Cornero until 1939 when then-Attorney General Earl Warren led a legal crusade to shut them down. The last to go was Cornero’s flagship, the Rex which was raided in 1939 during what came to be known as The Battle of Santa Monica Bay. After a three day standoff, Cornero surrendered because he “needed a haircut”. Government agents boarded the “Rex” and threw all of the gambling machines and tables overboard. Warren subsequently went on to become governor of California, and ultimately Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The 1930’s also brought about another very popular attraction to the Santa Monica Pier’s atmosphere—world famous Muscle Beach. Famous bodybuilders such as Jack LaLanne and Joe Gold (Gold’s Gym) regularly worked out here, establishing the city as the birthplace of the physical
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fitness boom. In 1940 the famous neon sign at the top of the Pier ramp was installed by the Santa Monica Pier Businessmen’s Association to celebrate the opening of the newly-built ramp. It is an internationally-recognized tourist destination and a symbol of the Southern California lifestyle. MOVIES WITH SCENES FILMED ON THE PIER Night Tide 1961
In 1943 Walter Newcomb purchased the Looff Amusement Pier. Newcomb had been managing the Pier’s operations at the time, and also owned the arcade and gift shop. Not long thereafter, his name had become so associated with the southern half of the Pier that it became
Bean 1997
known as the Newcomb Pier. His family (some of whom are present
The Sting 1973
here tonight) owned the amusement pier for 40 years until they sold
A Night at the Roxbury 1998
it to the City in the early 1970’s.
Miracle Beach 1992 Titanic 1997
In the 1950’s Enid Newcomb suggested to family friend Morris “Pops”
Forrest Gump 1994
Gordon that his two sons, George and Eugene, purchase and operate
Not Another Teen Movie 2001
the Pier’s arcade. It didn’t take much persuasion, for the Gordons
Iron Man 2008
instantly took to the Pier and ultimately made Playland Arcade into
Desperate Teenage Lovedolls 1984 Dark Ride 2006 Cellular 2004
the Pier’s longest running enterprise offering the day’s contemporary games alongside those of yesterday, providing inexpensive entertain-
The Hottie and the Nottie 2008
ment to a diverse crowd. George’s daughters Marlene and Joannie
Ruthless People 1986
have kept the business within the family, and the next generation of
Falling Down 1993
Gordons is already in training to maintain the family tradition.
Love Stinks 1980 The Hannah Montana Movie 2009
The Pier managed to carry on through the 1950’s and 60’s, satisfying
Hancock 2008
fishermen, tourists and locals alike. The other famous piers along
structure had been rebuilt. The harbor patrol station
The glamour of the amusement piers had given way to
reopened, along with a bait shop and restaurant—today
the inland theme parks such as Disneyland.
known as Mariasol.
In 1973, the fate of Santa Monica Pier seemed to be
To bring attention to the Pier during its reconstruction,
the same as that of its neighbors. The City Council had
Save the Pier Week was held in 1983 sparking a series
slated the Pier for destruction in favor of a man-made
of annual concerts known as The Twilight Dance Series.
island which would host a resort hotel. Santa Monica,
Today the concerts are as regular a part of Southern
often referring to itself as a “sleepy little beach town”,
California summer as sunshine, the sea and the sand.
woke up – its citizens in a rage over the thought of losing the last of its famous landmarks. After much publicity and the deliverance of a petition to their attention, the Council rescinded their plans to build the island. Three of the councilmen who had voted to destroy the piers were overwhelmingly defeated in their run for re-election, and their replacements saw to it that the Pier would never be destroyed. In 1983 Mother Nature was determined to accomplish what the former City Council could not. A pair of violent winter storms destroyed over one-third of the Pier’s length. Gone were the cafes, the bait shop, the rock shop and the harbor patrol station. The Pier in its entirety seemed too badly beaten to survive. But the people, true to their mission in 1973, put forth the effort to save the Pier again. The City formed the Pier Restoration and Development Task Force, which later became the PRC, to oversee the reconstruction, and the day-to-day operations of the Pier. By April 1990 the entire western
Film Festival Guide
the Gold Coast, however, disappeared one by one.
In 1996 Pacific Park opened, bringing back the first full-scale amusement park on the Pier since the 1930’s, and the first roller coaster, the West Coaster, since the Whirlwind Dipper let off its last customers over six decades earlier. The opening of the park was an invitation for families to visit the Pier again. The new millennium has continued with that momentum. Drawing over four million visitors annually, the Pier is just as vital as it has ever been. The atmosphere is decorated with a variety of street performers and artists who put their talents on display for crowds of admirers every day. Below the Pier’s eastern deck is the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, where you can experience some of the denizens of the Santa Monica Bay up close and personal. And, of course, the Pier’s Carousel still offers old-fashioned entertainment for under a dollar. The Pier today is a popular recreational destination as well as a vibrant reminder of the past.16
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GETTING YOUR BEARINGS
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HISTORICAL LANDMARKS Route 66 In 1926, Route 66 was created as a link
Route 66 is said to end a block away from the Pier at
between Chicago and Los Angeles. It totaled over 2,400
the intersection of Santa Monica Blvd and Ocean Ave.
miles and was dramatized in John Steinbeck’s Grapes
A bronze plaque dedicating Route 66 as the Will Rogers
of Wrath and popularized in Nat King Cole’s hit song, Get
Highway is located across the street in Palisades Park,
Your Kicks on Route 66. There’s no question that Route 66
a few feet from the Santa Monica Visitor Center Kiosk.
ends in Santa Monica. But there is great debate and speculation about where the actual ending point is located.
On November 11, 2009, the Santa Monica Pier was designated as the official Western Terminus of Route 66
Where do you think Route 66 ends? The original pre-
by the Route 66 Alliance, an organization that promotes
1939 alignment of Route 66 ended in downtown Los
and preserves the historic roadway between Chicago,
Angeles. In 1936, Route 66 was extended from downtown
Ill. and Santa Monica, CA. Stop by for a photo at The
Los Angeles to Santa Monica, terminating at US 101
End of The Trail Sign.
ALT, today the intersection of Olympic Blvd and Lincoln Blvd (a segment of State Route 1). According to the California Route 66 Preservation Foundation, Route 66 officially ends when it merges into Highway 101 at the intersection of Lincoln and Olympic Blvd.
No matter where the ending point is, Santa Monica is a wonderful place to celebrate the Spirit of Route 66 and its many contributions to American culture.
Film Festival Guide
Santa Monica’s Landmarks Program has been committed to historic preservation for decades. The city has designated two historic districts, more than 64 landmarks and structures of merit, and has identified approximately 1,350 potential historic resources. Marion Davies Estate, North Guest House Located at 321 Palisades Beach Road which has now been transformed into the Annenberg Community Beach House, the Marion Davies Estate was built by William Randolph Hearst and was home to many famed Hollywood parties in the 1930’s. The North Guest House is the only original structure remaining on the property. Santa Monica Conservancy docent tours of the Guest House are available for free. Historical Downtown Santa Monica Take a walking tour of some of Santa Monica’s oldest landmarks. In approximately two hours and six blocks, experience more than 130 years of Santa Monica history, including the 1875 Rapp Saloon, The Majestic Theatre and much more. Docent-guided walking tours by the Santa Monica Conservancy take place every Saturday morning at 10am. Self-guided tour booklets are also available. Visit www.santamonica.com for more information.
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FESTIVAL INFO
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Film Festival Guide
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All that’s left of your childhood fits in a little box
— amélie
FESTIVAL INFO
events LIVE MUSIC Orchestre National de France is a symphony orchestra run by Radio France. Since 1944, the Orchestra has been based in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, where it occasionally plays in the pit for opera productions. Joining us to represent the best of France’s musical talent, are seven members of the Orchestra. In additional to popular classical composers, the musicians will be playing musical numbers from Jeunet’s films.
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Yann Tiersen is a French musician and composer. His music is recognized by its use of a large variety of instruments in relatively minimalist compositions, often with a touch of either European classical music or French folk music, using primarily the piano, accordion or violin together with instruments like the melodica, xylophone, toy piano, ondes martenot, harpsichord and typewriter. The Amélie soundtrack features compositions from Tiersen’s first three albums and also new work for the film. Raphaël Beau’s score for Micmacs is an invigorating, intriguing affair that flits from relaxed shuffle to furious flights with grace. With each frame of a Jeunet film a work of art in itself, anything less than at least a serviceable, quirkily charming score would have spoiled things. Get energized and enchanted as you watch him perform his jaunty arrangements live!
Film Festival Guide
CARNIVAL FESTIVITIES During the festival, the historic carousel and all rides and booths will be open in the Pacific Park. Emerse yourself in play and let your imagination run wild. Whether you’re a child or an adult, youth is a matter of mood and mentality! FOUND ART SCULPTURE EXHIBIT On a break from the rides, be sure to check out the sculpture exhibit, featuring work from reknowned artist Robert Hudson and a selection of other local artists. All the work on display are assemblages of recycled material creating fresh and funky pieces that toy with our predisposed ideas of form and function. PHOTO BOOTH CONTEST Explore your own creativity and take a unique self-portrait! Tack your best photo on the Portrait Wall next to the booth to win a DVD Box Set of Jeunet’s featured films! Don’t forget to vote for yourself and two other runner-ups. The winners will be announced before the first film on Sunday. Runner ups will take home a festival poster.
FILM STILL GALLERY Jeunet’s films come alive with colourful characters and audacious designs. His lens onto the cinematic world is unique and make for beautiful film stills. Make sure to check out the large display of photography that will evoke the magical adventure of the featured films. FRENCH CUISINE No festival would be complete without a wide assortment of treats and eats! Experience traditional French fare, from freshly baked sweet and savory brioches to fried camembert to duck confit. Quench your thirst with an old-fashioned soda from the soda fountain next to the Carousel. Although we are all children at heart, alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase by guests 21 or older.
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FESTIVAL INFO
practicalities
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TICK ET OPTIONS
Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, May 17th at 10am PDT and can be pur-
$125 3-day tickets
chased on the festival website or directly from the Santa Monica Pier Box
$100 3-day tickets for children
Office located in Pacific Park. Guests with valid student identification and
12-years-old or younger.
$ 55 for 1-day tickets
groups of 4 or larger are eligible for a 15% discount on 3-day tickets. Prior
Children under 5 are free.
to July 5th, all online ticket sales are for 3-day festival tickets and include a $10 voucher to any of the Pier restaurants and unlimited access to the historical Carousel and the Pacific Park rides the days of the festival. Parking rates are $5 for advanced ticket holders and guests will be asked to present tickets or proof of purchase. One-day and 3-day tickets will be available the day of. Normal parking rates will apply to one-day ticket holders. All festival films are Rated R and minors must be accompanied by an adult. No ads or trailers are shown with the films, so please don’t be late!
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Film Festival Guide
FESTIVAL INFO
LOCATION Coming from the North on Pacific Coast Highway Go south on Pacific Coast Highway. After reaching the California incline, watch for directional signs for Pier/Beach parking and the deceleration lane on the right. Coming from the North on Ocean Avenue Go south on Ocean Avenue. The Pier is located two blocks south of Santa Monica Blvd. at the corner of Ocean Ave. and Colorado Ave. If the parking lot is full, proceed two blocks and make a right turn on Seaside Terrace. Follow signs to Pier/Beach parking. Coming from the South on Ocean Avenue Go north on Ocean Avenue. Turn left at Colorado Avenue and drive onto the Pier. If the lot is full, proceed north on Ocean Avenue to California Incline and go left. Turn left at the signal at Pacific Coast Highway. Move to the right hand lane and follow signs into Pier/Beach parking. Coming from I-10 Go west on I-10. Exit the freeway at 4th/5th Street exit. Stay in the left lane leading to 4th Street. Turn left on 4th Street and proceed to Pico Blvd. Make a right on Pico Blvd., proceed to Ocean Avenue. Turn right on Ocean Avenue and follow signage to the Pier.
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Coming from 405 From the north or south on the 405 Freeway, take I-10 West. Drive west on I-10 and exit freeway at 4th/5th Street exit. Go north on 5th St. to Colorado Ave. Make a left on Colorado Ave. and drive straight to the Pier at Ocean Avenue. If the parking lot is full, make a left turn on Ocean Avenue and proceed two blocks. Make a right turn on Seaside Terrace. Follow sign to Pier/Beach parking.
Y
Film Festival Guide
PCH OCEA N WAY
SANT A MONI CA BLVD
BROA DWAY COLORADO BLVD
PIER
10 4TH ST
NEIL SON WAY
2ND ST
SEASIDE
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PICO BLVD
BICKNELL AVE
OCEA N PARK BLVD BARNARD WAY Pier and Festival Parking Open 5: 30am to 2: 30pm
SOURCES
DAYDR EA MS ON ROOFTOPS Box Office: ( 310 ) 260 -7521 Toll Free: 800.555.7521 Email: info @ daydreamsonroof tops.com UR L : w w w.daydreamsonroof tops.com THE SA NTA MONICA PIER R ESTOR ATION COR POR ATION (SM PRC), established in 1983, is a non-profit, public benefit corporation made up of business and commun it y leaders who represent t he f ull range of commun it y interests. It was created by t he Santa Mon ica Cit y Council to manage and promote t he Pier, and is f unded by t he Cit y of Santa Mon ica. Members of t he Board ser ve wit hout compensation. 380 Santa Mon ica Pier Santa Mon ica, CA 90401 Phone: ( 310 ) 458-8901 Email: info @ santamon icapier.org UR L : w w w.santamon icapier.org PACIFIC PAR K Phone: ( 310 ) 260 -8744 UR L : w w w.pacpark.com CAROUSEL Phone: ( 310 ) 394 -8042 SANTA MONICA CONVENTION & VISITORS BUR EAU 1920 Main St. Ste B Santa Mon ica, CA 90405
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Phone: 310.319.6263 Toll Free: 800.544.5319 Email: info @ santamon ica.com UR L : w w w.santamon ica.com
Film Festival Guide
1 Elizabeth Ezra (2008 ). “Preface and Ack nowlegements.” Jean-Pierre Jeunet. 2 Elizabeth Ezra (2008 ). “Prost hetic Visions.” Jean-Pierre Jeunet. 3 Matt Ford ( 8 Feb 2001). BBC Film Review. 4 Clare Norton-Smit h (1995). BBC Film Review. 5 Neil Smith (2001). BBC Film Review. 6 Elvis M itchell. (2 Nov 2001). “Litt le M iss Sunshine as Urban Sprite.” New York Times Film Review. 7 Neil Smith (2001). BBC Film Review. 8 James Berardinelli (2001). Reel View Film Review. 9 Chris Barsanti (14 Dec 2004). A MC Film Critic Review. 10 Roger Ebert (17 Dec 2004). Movie Review. 11 Chris Barsanti (14 Dec 2004). A MC Film Critic Review. 12 Roger Ebert (17 Dec 2004). Movie Review. 13 Betsy Sharkey (4 June 2010 ). Los Angeles Times Film Critic Review. 14 Elizabeth Ezra (2008 ). “Prost hetic Visions.” Jean-Pierre Jeunet. 15 Elizabeth Ezra (2008 ). “Prost hetic Visions.” Jean-Pierre Jeunet. 16 Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation (2011). Santa Monica Pier History. 17 Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau (2008). Historical Landmarks in Santa Monica.
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DAYDREAMS ON ROOFTOPS A JEAN-PIERRE
JEUNET FILM FESTIVAL GUIDE
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