Nuit blanche

In the presence of Jean-Claude Rousseau.

Jean-Claude Rousseau is one of the most unconventional lone fighters in French cinema. His predominantly short films deal with no less than cinema per se: space, time and movement. As abstract as each of these concepts might seem taken alone, Rousseau assigns their ultimate designation as an integral whole: A person (or no-one, for that matter) moves (or does not move) within a room (or looks into another room) for a certain amount of time. In KEEP IN TOUCH, the longest film of this series, produced in New York in 1987, Rousseau is shown sitting in a room, waiting. Voices leave messages on his answering machine (sound); a table lamp (light) and an empty writing pad (memory) adopt the meaning due to them under this arrangement. In between, the flowing movements of nocturnal ice dancers are accompanied by Rousseau’s humming a tune. One of the most beautiful moments in a programme that produces eternities out of moments.