Public Information Library - Centre Pompidou
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Fil d'ariane
Bpi and You
Filmed Shows and Concerts
The choice of documents is guided, especially in the theatre and opera fields, by a concern to highlight in particular works which are at the junction between show and cinema. Among them, we can mention Pour un oui ou pour un non, a text by Nathalie Sarraute produced by Jacques Doillon, Carmen Jones by Otto Preminger who revisits Bizet's opera with humour, and Joseph Losey who brings sensuality and refinement to Mozart's Don Giovanni.
At the same time, the collection includes numerous performances filmed in great opera-houses (Opéra Bastille, Châtelet, Met, Convent Garden or Teatro alla Scala), which demonstrate the inventiveness of show producers (directors, script-writers, scenery and costume designers, lighting technicians) and the modernity of the voice.
But it is modern dance that flirts most naturally with cinema. Some film-makers, some documentary-makers (Raoul Ruiz, Valérie Urréa, Charles Picq, André S. Labarthe) try to catch and record for eternity the secret of the ephemeral gestures and movements of dancers. Conscious of the power of the image, some choreographers themselves (Wim Vandekeybus, Philippe Decouflé, Joëlle Bouvier et Régis Obadia) have used the camera to record much more than a copy of their theatrical shows: complete works of art, that are a perfect combination of the possibilities offered by the stage, visual arts and audiovisual technology.