Zone Grise

While conducting research in film at university, Liza Guillamot began working on film sets as an assistant director, a position she held for twenty years before dedicating herself to writing and directing her own projects. Zone Grise is her first feature film.  

A word from the selection committee:
The position is one of apparent neutrality: while Saint-Malo police academy opens its doors to Liza Guillemot’s camera, trainees and instructors appear on screen with their faces digitally masked – their features smoothed over to protect their anonymity. As classes are conducted, both theoretical and practical, the voice of the institution emerges through the content of the training. The field experiences – and very quickly, the racism – echo classroom discussions on the ban of racial profiling. Yet, the consistency of this ‘good practice’ training is undermined by the number of recurring moments scattered throughout the film, which return again and again to these thorny issues in a kaleidoscopic play of reflections. The indeterminate nature of vocation – the film tapping into youth’s question of “where am I heading?” -- gives way to a “grey zone” of apparent contradictions that insidiously accumulate until they come up against the harsh reality of new recruits’ assignments : “where is the police heading?”.

Florence Maillard