We pay homage to Jean Rochefort, who passed away Monday 9th October 2017, with this episode of Square Artiste. We had given him carte blanche to film whatever he wanted, and he led us on a meandering, introspective path between reality and fiction.
Fukushima, Mon Amour is the latest film by Doris Dörrie, released in March in German cinemas. For Square Artist, the director - very popular in Germany - has chosen to paint an intimate portrait of Butoh dancer Tadashi Endo.
Before, it was simple: there was selfishness or altruism. Either we got rich or we helped others. But now these binary divisions are fading. A supporter of effective altruism, the young philosopher William MacAskill proposes to go even further with "arithmetic altruism". This is, applying the concept of profitability to charitable contributions.
The German novelist David Safier profiles Daniel Magel, an 'everyday hero'. Born in Kazakhstan, he emigrated with his parents to Bremen. Alcohol, drugs and violence shaped his adolescence. But sport saved him. And now he works with youths and prisoners to show them its transformative power.
Blixa Bargeld, singer of the German rock band Einstürzenden Neubauten is an underground icon. For Square Artist, he shot a portrait of Dror Feiler, musician, composer and Israeli activist who lives in Stockholm.
The photographer Jim Rakete is given carte blanche. He has chosen to focus on the Californian artist Joe Ramirez-Dalton. For decades, he restored frescoes in churches, in Italy. Now he is dedicated to his magnum opus: "Somnium (the dream)", a project inspired by a 1620 text by Johannes Kepler on lunar astronomy.
Portuguese actress and director Maria de Medeiros produces a documentary on the Spanish journalist and activist Richard Mateos. Blind from birth, he defends the right of disabled people in Bolivia to live with dignity.
The great chef from Aveyron, Michel Bras, makes the most of his episode of Square by shining the spotlight on the life of André Valadier, a local farmer who has fought all his life to save his land from the trap of a industrialised agriculture.
In 2007, Franco-Afghan filmmaker Barmak Akram directed Kabuli Kid, a film telling the story of a taxi driver who discovers an abandoned baby in the back of his vehicle. Massi was then only six months old; today he is nine. Barmak Akram goes back to meet the budding actor, at his home in Kabul.
The filmmaker Regis Wargnier has chosen to portray Xavier Le Bris and his high-flying balancing act in the South Brittany.
Countertenor Andreas Scholl is a baroque specialist who produced this episode of Square Artist. He chose to focus on the life and work of Eva Fricke, a talented and promising young winemaker.