40th edition Short and medium films 2025
It's the story of Detective Smiley's latest investigation, but it's also the story of Elias Baucasse, a missing activist. A do-it-yourself epic in 2020s France.
Competes for the One+One Award
Antoine du Jeu is a director and a journalist. After writing for Cahiers du Cinéma, he made his debut film, L’Ami de vacances (2020), followed by Texture Pacifique (produced by G.R.E.C in 2024). Detective Smiley is his third short film.
A word from the selection committee :
If the title promises a pulp-fiction adventure, Detective Smiley’s investigation quickly reveals something else: in this film, popular fiction and its corollary – the investigation as a narrative drive – become, in a Pynchon-esque move, a revelatory device exposing a secret history of contemporary France, as seen from its Left. As we follow Detective Smiley, we navigate along the margins, one shady drifting into another, from the roadside to a sunlit undergrowth. The mise-en-scène supports this cartographic intent, giving prominence to digital archives, since in 2020s France, the traces of youth are already immaterial. In counterpoint, the profoundly organic grain of 16mm film and a soundtrack filled with airy 90s guitars remind us that, although the underground is a haven, it too has a history – and that history compels us.Victor Bournerias
- Interprétation
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Annabelle Martella, Roisin Burns, Quentin Dolmaire, Lukas Dana, Kathrin Schweizer, Sarah-Megan Allouch
- Photographie
- Tillyan Bourdon
- Son
- Félix Fattal
- Montage
- Théo Hoch
- Musique
- Tom Le Ho Devianne
- Production
- Face B
Contact :
Gautier Raguenes, Face B : facebfilms@gmail.com