marianne mispelaëre

THIRTEEN YEARS PRESENT

33mins 46sec
Full HD colored video, 8mm film colored
stereo sound
2023

From the Vosges mountains in France, teenagers are discussing and exchanging ideas. The floor is shared: the ease of some, the courage of others, push them to speak, while others listen and observe. These roles, naturally performed, are at the heart of their conversations. Enjoying thirteen years of presence in this world, they tell us that sometimes "speaking says nothing." Two stories (one near, one far) of people their age whose words have been ignored intersect. They have spoken to try to make their realities exist, without finding an audience. When spoken words do not exist, bodies are subjected to violence (to themselves).
« Treize années en présence » ("Thirteen years present") echoes adolescents whose perceptions are not devoid of accuracy or radicality. They express their visions of a fragmented world, where the artificial coexists with reality more than individuals do among themselves. They talk about the role that speech and listening play in it. If words can be actions, the silence that speech can confront also acts: it is the gesture of exclusion, of resignation.
The film offers a fragmentary narrative, constructed from various conversations. These were recorded in June 2023 as part of a polymorphic project, "Forum", which serves as both a speech device, "relational performances", in situ installations, and the filming location for this film.

directed by Marianne Mispelaere
camera, editing: Emilien Awada
sound recording: Stéphane Guidat et Stéphane Rives
sound editing, mixing, sound design: Stéphane Rives
musique : Benjamin Aman
color grading: Alexandre Lelaure
english translation: Daniel Levin Becker

MARIANNE MISPELAËRE