For her first feature film released on November 13, Jurassian Pauline Jeanbourquin followed a 17-year-old teenager with the gift of cutting fire. A fiction-like documentary co-produced by RTS, “Feu Feu Feu” addresses the theme of modern witches and sketches the portrait of a distraught youth.
Freshly graduated, seventeen-year-old Juliette is preparing to go to a scout camp by the sea. Having inherited the gift of treating burns from her grandmother, the young woman defines herself as a modern witch and communicates it regularly to his 40,000 subscribers on TikTok and Instagram.
Between swimming and evenings on the beach, the young woman cures her friends’ sunburns, asks the universe for help to be admitted to a midwifery school, and draws cards to understand the path that she must take in her life.
Jura tradition versus social networks
Born in Delémont 29 years ago, Pauline Jeanbourquin obtained her bachelor’s degree in cinema from ECAL seven years ago. In 2018, his diploma film “Crépuscule” received the prize for best Swiss short film at the Neuchâtel International Fantastique Film Festival (NIFFF). As for his first feature film, “Feu Feu Feu”, it caused a sensation at Visions du Réel last April.
Questioned in 12:45 p.m. on November 12, the Jura filmmaker confided that the idea of following a young person with a “secret” had been running through her head for some time: “I came across Juliette (editor’s note: the heroine of the film ) totally by chance on TikTok, she talked about the fact that she had the gift of secrecy, inherited from her grandmother. I was very quickly intrigued by her, by her face, by her way of speaking. secrecy so openly.
>> To see, the interview with Pauline Jeanbourquin in the 12:45 p.m.:
And Pauline Jeanbourquin specifies: “I am from Jura and in the Jura, it is a tradition which is very anchored. Even now, I burn myself quite often, I have sprains, so my first reflex is to call it secret and it works for me.”
A documentary with a fiction feel
“Feu Feu Feu” tells the story of the transmission of the “secret” via a modern and connected young girl. In addition to her portrait, Pauline Jeanbourquin also wanted to address the concerns of a generation in search of meaning and facing numerous challenges. With her camera and her team, the director filmed Juliette and her six friends, over the course of a summer, with the aim of immersing themselves as closely as possible.
Pauline Jeanbourquin took the time to film and did not hesitate to give directions: “I always propose a starting point and then I let them discuss naturally. When I feel that the conversation is deviating towards something which is less in the subject, I ask a little question from time to time, but in the end it’s really instantaneous and authentic.
To create this fiction-like documentary, Pauline Jeanbourquin surrounded herself with friends, also ex-students at ECAL: Augustin Losserand and Yatoni Roy Cantu. Responsible for images and music, they bring aesthetics and depth to this promising first feature film.
Comments collected by Julie Evard
Web adaptation: Sarah Clément
“Feu Feu Feu” by Pauline Jeanbourquin, an RTS co-production. To be seen in French-speaking cinemas since November 13, 2024.
