L'Avenir

A camera travels through a town. Starts in a backyard, moves into the house, passes through narrow corridors and into a living-room stuffed with shabby furniture. The inhabitants of the house sit silently on the sofa, audible are only off voices. They talk about the future in an industrial town without industry, about factories closing down and the factories’ sounds echoing in the background and fading away again. They talk about the hope of finding a job again – maybe, some time, and about the hope for their children finding their fortune elsewhere and perhaps return or remain. While the people’s voices are still audible, their faces have disappeared, as the camera is on its way into the next house. It passes public squares, empty streets, a café, school, a hen-party, moves into the neighbourhood of the more affluent. What we find here is space, stylish interiors and hardly any children, here we find people talking about culture. The camera’s journey ends at the river. With its strict profiling “L’Avenir” is a reminiscence to black-and-white social photography of the 20th century and a new kind of polyphone community portrait at the same time. Meurchin is in the north of France. Meurchin could be anywhere. (Festival information, Leipzig 2005)