The Film You Are about to See

The film you're about to see incorporates real material from film history. However, any collusion between art and industry, conflict between freedom of creation and the law, or any hint of moralism in the life of images, are purely unintentional.

'The starting point of the film is limited to a single material: title cards, or more broadly any form of speech that precedes a film to control the audience's experience. By repeating this sentence, "the film you are about to see," I wanted to subvert these repressive words that intend to control the audience’s experience. Then came images from films, for rhythm and editing reasons, but also to authenticate these texts which can sometimes seem like jokes but are actually taken from real archives…. The history of cinema teaches us that most of these title cards had the opposite effect to those expected: they mainly advertised the films they claimed to control! This is a good example of the paradox of what's forbidden: what is forbidden creates desire. This paradox can come from an external whole, as it can come from ourselves. We spectators also create our own barriers and our own escapes: we know whether we want to see a certain thing or not. So, what is the place of the critical gaze, and to what extent can it be created, or dissolved, in this paradoxical projection in cinema?' - Maxime MARTINOT