DATE: DeCeMber 14th, 9 pm.
When the black sun sets over the violet deserts, the church bell rings and the monsters awaken. Our hunger surges within our tired stomachs. Rage bubbles up inside us as the end looms behind a purple sunset over a temple. We dance until we die.
In A BLACK SUN SETS UPON A VIOLET DESERT, we present to you the best of the Queer French New Wave. Characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favour of experimentation and a spirit of dissent the French New Wave started in the 1950s and has a big impact on queer filmmaking. The programme combines short films, music videos and experimental works by 5 different filmmakers: ALEXIS LANGLOIS, LAURENS SAINT-GAUDENS, NICOLAS MEDY, YANN GONZALEZ & BETRAND MANDICO.
Music videos produced by MELODRAMA
Founded just five years ago, Melodrama was born out of a desire to make new voices and urgent issues heard against dominant currents. We work to propose new representations – and new heroines. We also cherish films that don’t shy away from grand sentiments, over-the-top romanticism, and try to escape from a certain realistic tradition. In these films, Laurens Saint-Gaudens, Nicolas Medy and Alexis Langlois seize video music in their own words to tell triumphant loves and bodies.
Therefore, Melodrama defends genre films of all kinds, with a taste for irreverent stories and sharp images. Ours is a queer project, moving freely from one form to another with filmmakers: short films, music videos, fiction, documentary, giallo, horror comedy, diary, musical, and more to come. To quote someone who is dear to us, “weaponizing our faggotry” with films is mostly our need.
COBRA PERFORMANCE – “I WANT YOU….TO RELAX”, 10′
TERROR, SISTER! – Alexis Langlois, 2019, 28′, french OV with english subtitles
Today is a day like any other for Kalthoum and her girlfriends. They sip cocktails, look for sex on the Internet, impatiently wait for love and once again, endure the transphobic insults of strangers. But today it’s not going to be like that: the four transgender friends will imagine their revenge.
EL SUEÑO (Perez) – Alexis Langlois, 2020, 3’08”, music video, OV
In an apartment, a party is in full swing. Sitting on a couch, Perez is hypnotized by a group of four girls opposite him.
LUST FOR LIFE (Hermetic Delight) – Laurens Saint-Gaudens, 2023, 4’45”, music video, OV
Three souls are stranded in a surrealistic setting from the 1970s. The white light of the morning slowly breaks through; it gives the three exhausted bodies their vitality. A musical choreography animates them. They regenerate and regain their strength in euphoria. It is the scenery of a Chirico painting that comes to life.
AUF WIEDERSEHEN (Mansfield TYA) – Nicolas Medy, 2020, 7’42”, music video, OV
An autumn morning, in 1381 or 2021. Or maybe 1981. The bells of a convent are ringing. It’s the hour of redemption for some chained sinners, led by Mother Superior to the altar where they must take their vows: obedience, silence, chastity.
“Amen et Auf Wiedersehen”
HIDEOUS (Oliver Sim) – Yann Gonzales, 2022, 4’30”, music video, OV
Musician Oliver Sim is the main guest of a talk-show that soon slides into a surreal journey of love, shame, and blood. Hideous is the first song from Oliver Sim’s album Hideous Bastard that explores growing up as a queer boy living with HIV.
EXTAZUS (M83) – Bertrand Mandico, 2019, 19′, music short film, OV
A heroic-fantasy musical.
MARATHON (Bilal Hassani) – Alexis Langlois, 2023, 2’30”, music video, OV
On se rend inhabituel // We’re making it unusual. Quand tu me surprends, je t’aime // When you surprise me, I love you.
PRESAGE (Paradox Obscur) – Nicolas Medy, 2023, 5’30”, music video, OV
His Orpheus, seeking Eurydice, follows La Passeuse’s flame, but we don’t know where it might lead him—so much like a great big nowhere. As we know, the hero must not turn back, or risk losing his love forever.
CALL ME (ELOI) – Alexis Langlois, 2024, 5’13”, music video, OV
A queer wrestler lovestory.
Program length: 105 min
Content Notes: talk about self harm, transphobia, assault, abuse, body fluids, blood, church, swords, snakes, death, flashing lights, monsters, HIV, bow & arrow, boxing, chainsaw
