two filmmakers from the Pontivy region in the spotlight

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Benjamin Le Botlan, originally from Saint-Thuriau (33 years old), Vincent Rannou, originally from Ploërdut (32 years old), Julien Hillion, originally from Pontivy (41 years old). These three young filmmakers from the region of Pontivy (Morbihan), in addition to their talent, have in common that they write and direct documentary films.

The first achieved the feat of selling out the Rex, in Pontivy, last month, with The peaks of the soulon his recovery from burn-out at the end of a 42-day extreme hike in the Pyrenees.

We can only wish the same success to the other two whose documentaries are showing during Doc Month which continues into November, at the Rex cinema in Pontivy.

“Incredible wildlife…”

This Friday, November 8, at 8:30 p.m., Vincent Rannou will present Argoat (1 hour 17 minutes; screening followed by an exchange with the director), a documentary by the wildlife photographer released on video in the early 2020s.

Vincent Rannou changed his focus… Expanded his field of action, from the forest of Ploërdut to all of inland Brittany which gives its name to the film, Argoat. From private or public forests, to marshes, bocages, and other meadows, from the Monts d'Arrée to the country of Fougères, from the forest of Loudéac to that of Redon, to the woods around Pontivy, too…

To make this documentary, he spent nearly 200 days in the forest, for 1,000 hours of shooting in camouflage clothing, “always respectful of nature, fauna and flora”.

Day and night, Vincent took in his lens badgers, foxes, owls, great black woodpeckers, wild boars, short-eared owls, and of course majestic deer, which this time he went to find in the Norman forests. “Our region is home to incredible wildlife that we were able to film during all four seasons.”

Ambient sounds brought back from the field, original music by Jannick Reichert, and voice-over, illuminate this documentary.

A kid at Belle-Île penitentiary

Monday, November 11, at 6:30 p.m., Julien Hillion will present Théret N° 487 (50 mins), which tells the story of François-Henri Théret, a street kid from Paris sent to the Belle-Île penitentiary (Morbihan) in the 1880s, at the age of 12, for stealing a blanket for horses, after having already committed some thefts…

The spectator will follow the young convict, from his childhood years in Paris until his death at the age of 28, through his nine years in penitentiary (from 12 years old to his majority at 21 years old), in a military-prison world where he suffered the worst treatment.

Throughout his journey, “the whole question of the treatment of delinquent youth is raised,” explains Benoît Roué, the manager of Rex: “Do we really need to lock up delinquent children to make them better? Théret N° 487 proves that prison is not the solution…”

The superb images of Belle-Île, other previously unpublished images of the reformatory and the long buildings of Haute-Boulogne in the heart of the penal colony, serve, with the drawings of Renan Coquin, as a backdrop to Julien Hillion's subject .

Also see…

The documentary Get to work!by Gilles Perret and François Ruffin, opened this Doc Month at the Rex, Tuesday November 5. It will continue with two other screenings: Trip to Gazaby Piero Usberti, Monday, November 25 at 8:30 p.m. (1:07 a.m.); and The Liberated Broomby Coline Grando, Friday November 29, at 8 p.m. (1:28 a.m.).

Le Mois du doc, at the Rex cinema in Pontivy (Morbihan) until November 29. €5 per session. Information and reservations on cinerexpontivy.fr.

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