The Voyage of the Hérétique

Didier Nion

2017
France
1h33
Fiction
Col.

In 1952, scientist Alain Bombard, wishing to show the way for all future victims of shipwrecks, embarked on an experiment that was widely publicised. This was largely due to the fact that it seemed a bold challenge: to survive one hundred days, crossing the Atlantic in a rubber dinghy, with minimal equipment, and without water or food. Didier Nion tackles the fascinating story of Bombard (already the subject of a documentary he had made in 2012, Bombard le naufragé volontaire) in what could have been a conventional biopic. But rather than justify and explain, he focuses on the idea of the voyage of initiation, as a source of meditation on the state of extreme solitude and the relationship between body and mind. (AH)

After a diploma in carpentry, Didier Nion works as key grip then DOP in cinema and television, before starting directing documentary films. As a crewman, he has crossed the Atlantic several times.
CM/SF : Clean Time (1996) / LM/FF : Juillet (1999), Dix-sept ans (2003)

Cast
Jérémie Lippmann, Jamie Sives
Screenplay
Didier Nion, Thomas Cheysson, Yves Nilly
Photography
Gilles Arnaud
Sound
Jacques Sans
Music
Grégoire Hetzel
Editing
Catherine Zins
Production
Jérôme Dopffer (Les Productions Balthazar)

CONTACT
Les productions Balthazar
infos@balthazarprod.com

2017 Competition