Hosted by the Academy of Film (AF) of the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), in cooperation with the French Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau, the 2019 European First Film Festival was held in MUST from March 18 to 21, 2019, under the sponsorship of the Macau Foundation. The whole festival was composed by the opening ceremony, film screenings, a seminar and a workshop.
The opening ceremony was held in N101 on March 18th. Three directors from the European First Film Festival, Hubert Charuel, Emmanuel Morice, and Nicolas Thomä attended it, together with William Bascaule, Director of the Alliance Française de Macau, Sa Ng，Culture Manager of Alliance Française de Macau, Samantha Chiang, Director of AF, MUST, together with 400 students and teachers.
Left to right：William Bascaule, Samantha Chiang, Nicolas Thomä, Emmanuel Morice, Sa Ng, and Hubert Charuel
The opening film was Hubert Charuel’s Bloody milk. Before the screening, the director shared his experiences in filmmaking. According to him, “this is a personal film, originated from the status quo of French farms, including his parents”. The story surrounds a 30-something dairy farmer, Pierre. Being a nobody, he struggles in vain to survive in giant difficulties.
Director Hubert Charuel shared his experience in filmmaking
The workshop held on March 19th was about short film making. It continued the learning model of last year and combined theory with practice. Students were divided into three groups, shooting the working process of either a chef or a ceramic maker within 6 hours. Then each group edited their footages into a 5-minute documentary.
Theoretical instructions by three French directors
French directors, Hubert Charuel, Emmanuel Morice, and Nicolas Thomä, talked about the narration and cinematography of documentary, and also about script-writing and shooting equipment setting. Then they each lead a group of students to the teaching kitchen and ceramics lab of MUST for shooting on location. There they offer more instructions on framing and angles.
Director Emmanuel Morice in ceramics lab
Director Nicolas Thoma in the teaching kitchen
Director Hubert Charuel in the teaching kitchen
3-hour film shooting was followed by an editing workshop, in which the pains and gains in the previous stage were shown clearly. The directors gave practical advices and comments on the final works of each group. The workshop is short but fruitful.
Group Photo of the Workshop
The seminar held on March 21st was the last event scheduled. After showing director Nicolas Thomä and Emmanuel Morice’s award-winning work The Kitchen with the Righteous, all three of them joint hands in sharing how to make the first feature film.
Emmanuel Morice and Nicolas Thomä met in 2016. Passionate about cuisine, wine and life, they decided to direct an original documentary on the Loire Valley in France. The Kitchen with the Righteous, with only 5 days of shooting, 20 hours-long of rushes and a 300 hours-long editing under its belt, the documentary was acclaimed at the closing of Angers European First Film Festival in 2017. Referring to their first feature direction, both co-directors advise that “one can do well with nothing, do even better with just a little, but ought to do it now anyhow” (“ Faire bien avec rien, faire mieux avec peu, mais le faire maintenant”).
Film Appreciation: The Kitchen with the Righteous
When asked about the tendency of French film education, director Nicolas Thomä replied that French films were different in expression from other countries which focused more on film form. Instead, they were close to nature and would not be constrained by inherited modes. Talking about how filmmakers should release their nature, director Hubert Charuel mentioned that nature is innate, but it is hard to be released under the pressure of the surrounding environment. During performance, actors could meet the needs of the plot and experience the natural scenes in real life to achieve a perfect combination of mind and movement.
In the end, the directors praised that the Chinese film industry is developing rapidly. Thanks to their unique local historic values and cultural concepts, their Chinese counterparts would sure be able to create high-quality works.
Group Photo
The European First Film Festival and AF, MUST, will extend their cooperation into a new stage. Both parties would like to join hands in future events to cultivate more film talents. In all, the 2019 European First Film Festival in MUST finished successfully.