A Summer Paused
Study abroad students create a cinema vérité documentary exploring French identity is 2016.
A Summer Paused (co-directed by Mitchell Lovell and Doug Saputo) shows the experiences we shared during the summer of 2016, a summer filled with both pleasure and tragedy. The first Filmmaking in France program deeply moved us and set the model for the future programs.
From the Filmmaker (Mitchell Lovell)
Lété was inspired by Chronicle of Summer. This pedagogical directive via Prof. Gerstner gave us a framework for the format of the film while allowing us to explore the currenttopics relevant to us.
So, Summer of 2016… In the U.S. it was the summer that saw a grifting xenophobic and misogynist demagogue rise in popularity. It was a summer where in which a string of extrajudicial killings of Black civilians by the hands of police officers led to both mass protest and retaliatory violence. It was the summer of the global augmented reality phenomenon, Pokémon Go. Through translated articles and class discussions we’ve learned that France was going through similar moments.
We didn’t know what we were going to end up with. We just knew we wanted to chronicle our summer.
From the time we were accepted into the program and our cohort of eight formed, we were shooting non-stop. And there’s a lot that didn’t make the cut: Interviews amongst each other pre-departure and along the Sienne, dialogues with citizens of Tours directly impacted by the 2015 terrorist attacks, performative vignettes, inspired by Goddard’s La Chinoise, and a particular moment of Louis Garrel’s in Les Chansons D'amour.
But it was the events of July 2016 and the people we met that informed on where to take our film.
This short film captures the essence of this program, from its intention on linking the cinema history and form to production to the spirit and implementation of international exchange and dialogue.
Stills
