Jean-Gabriel Périot
Babysitter, barman, clothes and handicrafts salesman, videotape programme clerk, assistant director, editor, mime, auction sales assistant, journalist, dance filmmaker, artist… Born in France in 1974, Jean-Gabriel Périot directed several short movies, both in video and cinema. He developed his own editing style using archive material. Between documentary, animation, and experimental, most of his work deals with violence and history. His most recent works, including “Dies Irae,” “Even if she had been a criminal…,” and “Nijuman no borei” have been shown worldwide at numerous festivals and were awarded many prizes.
Films
- Our days, absolutely, have to be enlightened / Nasze czasy, bez wątpienia, muszą być oświecone22'
FRA 2011, 22’
read morePeople are singing behind prison walls. Outside, a small crowd has gathered, because the often wistful songs are coming from loud speakers. The audience can’t see the singers, but we can watch the faces of the listeners. Their expressions mirror the emotions on both sides of the wall. The visual and the acoustic levels create an extraordinary bond. A moving concert – with applause.
- The Devil7'
For a long time Jean-Gabriel Périot wanted to make a film about the Black Panther civil rights movement. But this was not possible until he met Boogers in Tours and heard his song “The Devil”, which, in the version of the time, faded into a Jeremiah Wright sermon. Périot’s footage loops of violence in a bar and on a sidewalk are not a video clip, they describe the relentlessness of racism. Wherever it reigns there will be not just one blow, kick or shot, but this will happen again and again, the moment a victim shows up in the “wrong” place, answers back or stands up for himself.
read more - The day has conquered the night / Le jour a vaincu la nuit28'
Everyone dreams. But do people in prison dream differently? The filmmaker Jean-Gabriel Périot asked eight inmates of a prison in Orléans – women and men – to record their dreams in writing. The texts were revised linguistically or, with the help of the musician Gérald Kurdian, rewritten as song lyrics. The protagonists seen reciting or singing their dreams are caught in static frame shots. Looking straight into the camera they capture our attention, especially during the silence at the beginning or end of their takes. The visual axes and the verbalisation of the dreams create a fictional outside world – an escape from prison routine.
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