30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

Two twins live in a suspended world, performing every movement in perfect synchrony, according to their dual rituality. The repetition of gestures fuses their souls and their bodies with similar features. The dialogue of images and sounds breaks the dimensions of earthly time and space. The two sisters cook, sleep, and wash in their sparsely furnished rooms: a candle for lighting, a wooden stool for sitting, a copper pot for cooking. Minimalist settings are immersed in a dreamlike atmosphere that is sometimes relaxing, sometimes disturbing, with the masterful aesthetic attention of photography that uses natural light both inside and outside, with fireplaces, candles and rays of sun that illuminate the tableaux vivants. The actresses, elegantly sculpted, move like models waiting for their portraits to be drawn in the long hypnotic shots made of mechanical gestures and a sense of alienation, until an almost invisible presence interrupts their routine.

• 

  Sarah-Anaïs Desbenoit

  Born in 1992 in Paris, she studied at the school of Beaux-Arts de Cergy, graduating in 2020. Filmmaker, artist, video editor and assistant director, she uses video, projections, sound and installations to alter the perception of reality. She furthered her studies in Tighmert in Morocco and at Villa Kujoyama in Japan. Phalène (2022) was presented at IFFR Rotterdam.