Cinema: three filmmakers on this autumn’s program

This fall, the Cinémathèque du documentaire par la Bpi continues its rich program of daytime screenings at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, evening screenings at the Forum des images, and screenings at a new venue, the mk2 Bibliothèque, joining the Centre Pompidou’s program as part of its constellation.

Our program will therefore be spread across three venues this season, focusing on three filmmakers for their French retrospectives: Judit Elek from Hungary (September 17–November 23), Harutyun Khachatryan from Armenia (October 9–November 30), and Giovanni Cioni from Italy (December 3–21).

Three countries of cinema spanning more than six decades of direct cinema, essays, first-person films, and hybridization with fiction. Three filmmakers bear witness to the vitality of documentary cinema in its ability to question the relationships between cinema, life, identities, memory, and the present.

Starting on September 17, a complete documentary series dedicated to the great lady of Hungarian cinema, Judit Elek, will open in partnership with the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Paris and the National Film Institute in Budapest. Following her retrospective at the Cinémathèque Française, the documentary portion of her work will be shown in a restored version.

Starting on October 9, the first retrospective of Harutyun Khachatryan will open in his presence. Beyond the Armenian question and the legacy of master Artavazd Pelechian, which the filmmaker claims as his own, his films question the notion of identity within the power relations that structure the world. In partnership with the Armenian Ministry of Culture.

Starting on December 3, Giovanni Cioni will present his highly unusual work, in which each encounter and each individual is portrayed as a world unto itself, where faces and bodies produce words, gestures, and landscapes. In partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris.

Before mentioning our regular events, let’s shine the spotlight on three exceptional events: the epilogue to the Frederick Wiseman retrospective at the Shoah Memorial (September 25), the Charles Brabant Prize awarded by SCAM to Avi Mograbi (October 29), and the double screening in the editing room of the talented Luc Forveille (November 15). Don’t miss the two premieres offered by ARTE (with Ekiem Barbier and Guilhem Causse) and France Télévisions (with Gar O’Rourke) on September 24 and November 19, respectively.

As every year, we are also hosting the masterclass organized by DEMC students from Paris-Cité University, this year with Alessandra Celesia. Another discussion session will be held by La Fabrique des films with Vincent Pouplard, in partnership with the CNC. In partnership with the Dutch Embassy, we are offering a premiere screening of the film The Dmitriev Affair.

Among our many events, we would like to mention the Panorama-cinéma film club, with special guests Robert Morin and André-Line Beauparlant, the carte blanche given to Cinéma du réel for Fenêtre sur festivals, the Cinémathèque idéale des banlieues du monde, Trésors du doc, the Rencontres d’Images documentaires and, of course, at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Les yeux doc à midi and the Université permanente de Paris.

We hope to welcome you all in large numbers to share these moments of cinema, which this season are resolutely focused on discovery.

We dedicate this season to Jean-Pierre Thorn (1947-2025), a constant and generous ally.