Out of Competition

SEVENTEEN
DIX SEPT ANS

Country of production: France
Year: 2003
Language: French
Mins: 80

Director: Didier Nion
Cinematograph: Didier Nion
Editing: Catherine Zins
Sound: Pascale Mons
Producer: Gilles Padovani
Production company: Mille et Une Films
Source: Chloe Huet
Mille et Une Films
11 rue Denis Papin
35000 Rennes
FRANCE
Phone: +33 2 2344 0359
Fax: +33 2 2344 0363
milfilm@club-internet.fr


Didier Nion, one of France's finest film technicians, has made a remarkably powerful movie about one boy's coming of age. The filmmaker and the young man's often sweet, often contentious relationship evolves over the course of the film, as the filmmaker slowly becomes a stabilizing and caring force in the young man's life.

Jean-Benoit is seventeen-years-old, and is embarking on an apprenticeship as a mechanic. Between the garage where he works, his love affair with Helena, and his difficult relations with his mother, the film shows Jean-Benoit's inability to learn and his difficulty in leaving behind a childhood scarred by the disappearance of his father.

And yet, gradually, Jean-Benoit is beginning to rebuild his life.

Didier Nion was born near France's Seine River in 1959. He has worked extensively as a camera operator and technician, notably for such directors as Claude Sautet, Luc Besson, and Josianne Balasko. His films as director have been selected at Lebanon's documentary festival, the Estates General of Documentary film festival in southeastern France, as well as at festivals in Rome, Sao Paulo, Locarno, Cannes, Tiburon, and beyond.

filmography as director
SEVENTEEN (2003)
VOYAGES, VOYAGES (2000
VIENTIANE. CARNET. (1999)
FIVE. ZERO-NINE. (1999)
JULY (1998)
CLEAN TIME (1996)

Sunday 04-Apr-2004 3:00 PM Beverly Arts Center
Monday 05-Apr-2004 9:00 PM Facets Multi-Media