Proof of its resilience, PRISME#8 emerges from the end of winter and heralds the return of light.
Born out of a desire to celebrate the vitality of contemporary analog creation within the international network of artist-run labs, Mire’s festival reached a turning point at the end of its seventh edition, marking the end of the SPECTRAL* epopee. Its team, renewed by half since the beginning of the adventure, wanted to take a step back to reconsider its fundamentals.
Thus, from the beginning of winter, PRISME migrated towards its end, and the celebration of contemporary effervescence was increasingly accompanied by a dialogue with the predecessors of experimental cinema history.
The process of reinvention was greatly shaken by the announcement at the end of 2024 of severe budget cuts, particularly by the Pays de la Loire Region. The question of stopping arose in order to highlight the consequences of this harmful and authoritarian policy.
Weighing up the pros and cons, we decided, at the cost of increased mobilization of the association’s driving forces, not to let ourselves be defeated. Literally.
Taking our place, asserting our relationship with the world, celebrating beauty, creating a collective space of refuge.
A large part of the team works without remuneration. The festival’s regional influence relies mainly on the financial commitment of our partners, the Jacques Tati cinema in Saint-Nazaire and the Concorde cinema in La Roche-sur-Yon, to compensate for the withdrawal of support from the relevant local authority.
“Less is Mire” has been our leitmotiv during the preparation of this edition. PRISME#8 will indeed be held in a somewhat stripped-down format.
Our approach is to reduce the scope of the program in order to maintain quality remuneration and welcoming conditions for the invited artists—who are inevitably fewer in number.
Economy of means combined with great ingenuity is a characteristic strength of many experimental filmmakers.
This guideline has led us, in the spirit of consistency between the festival’s message and its form, to cobble together this 8th edition, with all the charm and creativity that this implies.
From conference to luminous path, from velvety screenings to joyful tinkering and playful treats shared, common threads reveal themselves and intertwine to weave the fabric of a program made up of cult works, as well as novelties, local and international, of documentation and abstraction, action and thought, tumultuous experiences and gentle slowness.
An open window to the world, lucid about its darkness and humbly claiming a perpetual capacity for wonder.
Relentlessly pursuing the search for the conditions for a better future, our resistance will be, for a moment, to cultivate joy together.
*2022-2025 European cooperation project focusing on a vibrant cinematic art form conceived within a broad spectrum of possibilities
PROGRAMME
– when in Nantes –
Thursday, February 26th – day n°1
From 7 to 10 PM – Opening night at the Atelier Dulcie September
Films by Zack Parrinella and Ken Jacobs, Wandering with Mire’s members, performance by Élodie Ferré
Public catering, refreshments.
Friday, February 27th – day n°2
Screenings at Le Cinématographe
6:30 PM – Films by Nicole Remy, Isaac Shermann, Zazie Ray-Trapido, Kyath Battie, Olivier Dutel, Carole Thibaud
9 PM – Films by Eva Claus, Celeste Rojas Mugica, Richard Tuohy & Dianna Barrie, Laurence Favre, Lichun Tseng & Mick o’Shea
Snacks between screenings.
Saturday, February 28th – day n°3
11 AM – Screenings at the Cinématographe, coffee and pastries at 10:30
Films by Els Van Riel et Petra Graf & James Edmonds
From 2:30 PM to midnight – Screenings, performances, workshops, conference at Pol-n
Sunday, March 1st – day n°4
From 3 PM – Open screen at Mire
– prisme wanders –
Thursday, March 5th – Saint-Nazaire
8:30 PM – Screenings at the Cinéma Jacques Tati
Films by Isaac Shermann, Richard Tuohy & Dianna Barrie, Lichun Tseng & Mick o’Shea, Kyath Battie, Petra Graf & James Edmonds
Friday, March 6th – La Roche-sur-Yon
8:30 PM – Screenings at the Cinéma Le Concorde
Films by Zack Parrinella, Isaac Shermann, Zazie Ray-Trapido, Ian Bourn & John Smith, Jan Rehwinkel, Kyath Battie, Lichun Tseng & Mick o’Shea