“Riverboom” tells the crazy odyssey of three young reporters in Afghanistan, one year after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Miles from Kabul, Claude Baechtold will film the incredible adventures of his friends: Serge, the relentless journalist and Paolo, the unconscious photographer.
2002, Kabul, Afghanistan. While the world’s media focus on American peace promises following their military intervention, three young reporters are leaving the beaten track. Their objective: to take the route taken by Ella Maillart and Annemarie Schwarzenbach in 1939 and meet the Afghan people. Their motto: it’s always the least important people who tell the most interesting stories.
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A bit of a crazy story
“Riverboom” is a story of encounters, coincidences and the unexpected. One day, Claude Baechtold receives a call from Serge Michel. The journalist asks him to accompany him by car to Kabul. Distraught by the death of his parents, Claude accepts. Except that once arrived in Kabul, it is impossible to leave: the consulates are under siege and the planes broken.
In 2002, if Kabul was an international anthill, the rest of the country was deserted by soldiers and media from around the world. Serge Michel wants to get to the bottom of it. The journalist plans to tour the country to establish an inventory, following the departure of the Taliban. He is accompanied by independent photographer Paolo Woods and as there is still a place in the car, he offers Claude to accompany them.
“I’m the guy who shouldn’t have been there.”
“Serge has known since he was 12 that he wants to be a journalist, Paolo dreams of being a war photographer. My background is ECAL, Yakari and the Rondò Veneziano, basically,” says the director with a smile Claude Baechtold in the Vertigo show on October 29.
>> Listen to the interview with Claude Baechtold in Vertigo:
At the time, Claude was only equipped with a very small camera which everyone made fun of, telling him that it was in fact an electric razor. His two friends push him to buy a video camera and create a fake press card for him. “Except that at the time, Afghanistan was the worst place to become a cameraman,” says Claude Baechtold. “Because all the attacks are carried out by fake cameramen who put bombs in their cameras.” Claude begins to film the entire journey, he discovers the absurdity of war and Afghan humor.
A storyteller
If it took twenty years for “Riverboom” to see the light of day, it was also thanks to a mishap. Following this trip, Claude entrusted all of his cassettes to a friend so that he could digitize them. This leads them astray. The films would be found under a pile of tires years later.
The strength of “Riverboom” lies both in the originality of its production and the strong character of the three protagonists. Claude Baechtold happily mixed his rushes with the photos taken by Paolo Woods (aesthetic, serious, in black and white) and his own (colorful and often poorly framed). Added to this are maps, drawings, pictograms and Claude’s voice-over which navigates between self-deprecation and intimate confidences.
The characters also bring a nice synergy between Serge the stubborn, Paolo the hothead and Claude the cowardly. The final result is a sort of patchwork of “Pieds nickelés”, the film “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and Amélie Poulain. A funny, informative and moving tragicomic documentary.
Comments collected by Anne Laure Gannac
Web adaptation: Sarah Clément
“Riverboom” by and with Claude Baechtold, Serge Michel and Paolo Woods. To be seen in French-speaking cinemas since October 30, 2024.
