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Two hands

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’07s, 2023).
30 January 2023. Published by Benoît Labourdette.
  1 min
 |  Download in PDF

How to accompany the one who is no longer there?

Credits

Direction and images:
Benoît Labourdette

Artistic and musical collaborations:
Laurett’, Olivier Ducastel, Bruno Raymond-Damasio, Jean-Yves de Lépinay,
Sabina Appadu, Elisa Bonnet, Marie Désert, Robinson Labourdette

Diffusion

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All the films in « Short films »
The book's title
The book’s title

A film by Benoît Labourdette (6’41s, 2021).

On the difficulty of writing, of forming a sensitive and true trace of the most intimate and precious things. Immersion in the head of an author in search of the memory of a moment of sensuality.
Memory Palace
Memory Palace

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How can a simple place become the crucible for the revelation of our childhood memories?
No entry
No entry

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’58s, 2013).

Body, space and timeA body in the city at night. The body of the eye. The look of the body. The experience of coming and going, which is the breath of a city. Is the time in the city, is a (…)
Opening soon
Opening soon

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’34s, 2013).

The speech of a father to his son for the opening of their next clothing store. Capitalism, sexism...
Going to the sea?
Going to the sea?

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’35s, 2022).

Not yet understanding the disappearance of his child. Looking for him. Not finding him. Try to change the perspective.
Teachers' lounge
Teachers’ lounge

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’07s, 2012).

Everyday life without apparent problems, in this teacher’s room of a high school near Paris. But it conceals dark secrets... a fiction inspired by real events.Ten years after the making of this (…)
The young witch
The young witch

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’23s, 2020).

The child knows her powers.
Myopia
Myopia

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’33s, 2021).

Myopia can be triggered by trauma. We are left with poetry.
The meeting
The meeting

A film by Benoît Labourdette (5’16s, 2011).

A meeting, like a thousand other meetings. No, it is your meeting.
Spike proteins
Spike proteins

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’51s, 2023).

People who have stood up for the respect of humanity are always present, even to help those who had decried them.Directed, text, voice, image and music by Benoît Labourdette, 2023.This (…)
Spectra
Spectra

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Charlotte Delbo’s words emanate from human traces of people who were living there a few hours earlier.
That light
That light

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One night, as if nothing had happened.
Indifference
Indifference

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’53s, 2005).

Rediscover the world, between its real and imaginary dimensions, with a new shooting tool.
Here lived filmmaker Boris Lehman
Here lived filmmaker Boris Lehman

A film by Benoît Labourdette (8’50s, 2013).

The visit of an empty Paris apartment, where several people lived successively. Memory fumes artists Sophie Calle and Boris Lehman.
Parking dance #100
Parking dance #100

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Flying danced deliriums sung. A choreography between a drone and dancers, for the hundredth and last opus of Sandra Abouav’s “Parking Dance” series (2017-2020). Presentation by Sandra AbouavIt (…)
Perpetual motion
Perpetual motion

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Ode to childbirth by a young adult.
No picture on screen
No picture on screen

A film by Benoît Labourdette ( 2’54s , 2015).

The mystery of physiological processes at work in a movie theater.
I parked my scooter
I parked my scooter

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“I parked my scooter, I lost my scooter. If someone found it, he can bring it to me.” Small musical and visual variation humorous.
Poster
Poster

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A touch film, made of paper and words.
Bell tower
Bell tower

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’26s, 2013).

On the way to autofiction, a conversation between a father and his son, played by the same voice.
City lights
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Nos deux yeux voient gauche-droite avec un écart, avant-après avec la mémoire, devant-derrière avec leur mobilité ; ils créent le relief et la profondeur.
Pascal's flowers
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Invent a tale. Ground the story into reality. Why does the shape of the tale in 2011 ? Probably to make again metaphor, universal. A simple love story.
A seated man
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The work of mourning, such a slow movement of life.
The land
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“A place of one’s own, what is it?”
Fragile and forgotten silhouettes
Fragile and forgotten silhouettes

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Do we remember these living figures, near or far, multiple, these moments of intense life? As in a painting by Bruegel the Elder, there is no whole, but a multitude of small details juxtaposed.
The old hallway
The old hallway

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The adult world, incomprehensible to a dominated, abused child.
In their absence
In their absence

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There are times when you have the feeling, if not the certainty, that you’ve missed the point.
Door
Door

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Listening at the doors. A deeper, poetic and contemplative exercise than one might imagine at first glance.
Metro meditation
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To be there without being there, not to be there by being there. To be above all within oneself. Meditate. In the subway.
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In 2005, the cameras appear in the phones, and invite to film the daily. One of the first movies shot on mobile phones.
Madeleine
Madeleine

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Nostalgie musicale dans le métro à Toronto.
Clément Thomas Joseph Marianne Philippe
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Dans la vie, les choses les plus importantes, qu’elles soient heureuses ou dramatiques, arrivent souvent par accident. L’histoire d’un homme, pas jeune, pris dans la spirale de la répétition (…)
The hand
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Man’s hand is what gives him speech.
Imaginary territory
Imaginary territory

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Abstract shapes, children color from the sky.
Fragile hopscotch in the sky
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The inner experience of a moment of pedagogical innovation in the classroom.
Chairs
Chairs

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We all sat on chairs in classrooms. We make these chairs ? What do they give us ?How they welcome us ? Can we look at them differently than in a utilitarist point of view ? Besides, are they (…)
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What is life? Can simple little plastic animals help us find the answer to this question?
You are here
You are here

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The blind run in the streets.
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A rat race, to mourn the departure of the beloved.
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Meditation on the depth of feeling in the world, based on a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh.
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At times, time and space are reversed.
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One of the first movies shot with mobile phone.
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“Far, far away in my thoughts, at the end of the screen of my eyes printed with electronic images.”
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What if, what if, what if... sometimes you wish you could turn back the clock.
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Trees and a woman
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A walk, an intimate dialogue with oneself and with nature, a path to find oneself, to be in the world. A film born from a dialogue between images and text.
Oh night
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A postcard seems to come to life, and write its own legend.
Reserved for nurses
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The trace, in the places, of the stories and dramas that took place there. A reserved parking space, another reserved parking space, empty at the moment we look at them, but which have seen so (…)
Men and doll
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Bordeaux. Saint-Michel square with roadworks. Night. Hardly anyone goes. The memory of a tragedy within the body of a disjointed doll.
Heart of/for freedom
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Au delà des barrières, des barbelés, des prisons, le cœur vivant est toujours battant.
Two hands
Two hands

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’07s, 2023).

How to accompany the one who is no longer there?
Remembering Alice
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A mother returns in the footsteps of her missing daughter. The work of mourning, like the work of birth, is a work of unconditional love.
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From the eroticism of the musical instrument.
FrEE zonE
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The remembrance of a drama, and an unexpected confession.
Vanitas
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Feverish dream in a baroque chapel. A vanitas with words.
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The fascination of being able to film what happens in everyday life, thanks to the first mobile phones equipped with cameras.
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Facing our child, real or imagined.
I've seen you
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Where is our body ?
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Se remémorer que la liberté se conquière d’abord à l’intérieur de nous, quelle que soit la situation extérieure.
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We meet a homeless in the street and we forget, one minute later.
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Thinking, overthinking...
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To grieve is to carry more weight. It is to live with the absence. It is to become more lucid. It means having to be stronger. It is to be more joyful of everything.
Stones of memory
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A meditation on the construction of one’s own memory, one’s “memory palace”.
Already the architecture
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Contemplative quest for meaning in an abandoned summer camp.
Each morning
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A film by Benoît Labourdette (5’44s, 2013).

Charles, 37-year old boy who lost his mother a year ago, sometimes perceive the world in a distorted way, multiplied, time and space losing their reality. A meeting will change his life.
Black series
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After the death was sown into arbitrariness, a young woman comes back to haunt her mate.
Barcelona hotel
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Autofiction on adultery.
Hold your right
Hold your right

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’57s, 2005).

Movement of the human gaze, gaze of the machines, movement of the world...
The kiss 1234567
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How to share the silent screams, behind families with smooth histories ?
News from father
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Life on a blank screen...
Sands Hotel
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Remember the presence of the lost loved one in a hotel room surrounded by sand.
Are you calling for help?
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Step by step, the quest for life, meeting a tragic fate.
The men on camera
The men on camera

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Visual composition, music and sound, from a noisy flying camera, referring to the movie “The Man with a Camera” (Dziga Vertov, 1929).
The beach
The beach

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’54s, 2021).

On an indoor beach, memories and sensual projections.
Choir
Choir

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’10s, 2012).

Music softens morals.
Love in the confined present tense
Love in the confined present tense

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Palimpsest of confined lives, of pictorial references, of nascent love, of graphic and audiovisual performance, between Paris and Nantes in 2020.
Nature
Nature

Un film de Benoît Labourdette (3’08s, 2021).

Reprendre contact avec la/sa nature, ce n’est pas si simple.
Dead leaf
Dead leaf

A film by Benoît Labourdette (8’33s, 2012).

A little piece of nature in the middle of the city is a microcosm of nature impulses of life. Love, the mix of bodies, dramas, reunion, always. Crosses of stories on feelings and bodies.
At the station
At the station

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’41s, 2016).

The intimate perception of the inner voices of passing humans, which leads to a choice of life.
First
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A film by Benoît Labourdette (6’29s, 2013).

A former disused hotel on the Place du Capitole in Toulouse is the scene of an inner musical divagation.
A heritage of life
A heritage of life

A film by Françoise Simpère et Benoît Labourdette (2’13s, 2020).

What we know we’ll take with us on the day we die is probably what can feed our life energy.
Made in China
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Un film de Benoît Labourdette (6’07s, 2017).

Des animaux en plastique nous parlent.
Uprooted
Uprooted

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’01s, 2021).

To see oneself in front of the roots of a tree.
Animals at the window, the hill of light
Animals at the window, the hill of light

A film by Benoît Labourdette (5’12s, 2019).

Eat the animals or not? What if the animals speak for themselves?
Sleeping in Paris
Sleeping in Paris

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’41s, 2023).

Finding meaning in life, despite its most terrible tragedies
Light in a window
Light in a window

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’06s, 1999-2019).

A contemplative journey through the energy of light, between nature and electronics.
Luminous object
Luminous object

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’42s, 2019).

“When the eye, emerging from the darkness, suddenly sees a luminous object, it will seem much larger at first sight than in the long run.” Leonardo da Vinci, Notebooks (optical).
Around
Around

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’33s, 2013).

In Vitrolles, in the south of France, a rocky peak overlooking the city. It is found scattered clothes and a mobile phone, in which there was a movie and a text. The work of a madman, it seems, (…)
Night road
Night road

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’44s, 2013).

“Small child at the bottom of the back seat of the car, travel and night lights are not very real. With the help of tire, three minutes of travel on the street appear three long hours of (…)
The crossing of the Comic!
The crossing of the Comic!

A film by Macha Makeïeff and Benoît Labourdette (9’53s, 2015). With Thomas Morris and the dog Siegfried.

A frantic sequence shot through all the unusual places of the Comic Opera building in Paris. The pursuit of an imaginary singer, in search of her dog and her “Maestro”!
H building
H building

A film by Benoît Labourdette (7’03s, 2012).

The metaphor for the journey of life of a human being through a visual journey “kaleidoscopic” in a building.
Your attention please
Your attention please

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’08s, 2011).

A station dock, a Flip camera on the ground, the voice-over of the stationmaster, waiting travelers, a train arriving...
The red jars
The red jars

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’27s, 2021).

Man domesticates nature. For good or bad reasons? Maybe it’s a little more complicated than we thought. Hints for a philosophical reflection
Jesus
Jesus

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’48s, 2016). With the voice of Bénédicte Loyen.

In Western society, the written language was invented again to name God. Our words carry weight of the religious, in spite of us. Seek to understand ...
A tree in tears grows again
A tree in tears grows again

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’05s, 2023).

Life after.
Relic
Relic

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’49s, 2024).

How can we give a place in our Life to those who have left?
Reflection alone
Reflection alone

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’38s, 2022).

How to find oneself and the world after the shock?
Break
Break

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’36, 2012).

“Break”, this time of the working day in which humans are placed in a non-productive state finally.
On the void
On the void

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’35s, 2021).

Meditate, yes... but how to do it?
Back to childhood
Back to childhood

A film by Benoîtenoît Labourdette (2’10s, 2023).

Life was a gift.
Dream
Dream

Un film de Benoît Labourdette (2’15s, 2005).

Regards et désirs dans le métro.
Inside time
Inside time

Film by Benoît Labourdette (3’34 s, 2016).

Reading of the last paragraphs of “’Remembrance of Things Past” by Marcel Proust. Links between literature, painting and movement.
The fear
The fear

A film by Benoît Labourdette (9’28s, 2016).

Sensitive sharing of therapeutic indications to fight against fear, this kind of fear present inside of each.
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’41s, 2005).

Preparations for a cinematic event.
The event
The event

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’38s, 2021).

Observe what is going on behind the eternal appearances.
Coco
Coco

Un film de Benoît Labourdette (2’15s, 2020).

Une noix de coco partage ses problèmes d’image : réussira-t-elle a prendre confiance en ses qualités ?
Straw fire
Straw fire

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’27s, 2019).

Dead animals are helplessly witnessing human violence.
What do you fear?
What do you fear?

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’12s, 2022).

Make a list of your fears, to maybe trigger something.
At the time
At the time

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’31s, 2020).

The most beautiful memories can be without nostalgia, because life goes on.
An adult tree
An adult tree

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’19s, 2022).

If I had known, if I could have, and yet I was always there.
Cold fire at the castle
Cold fire at the castle

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’17s, 2023).

At times, past, present, fiction and reality are intertwined. The present moment becomes a tale.
At the Venice stadium
At the Venice stadium

A film by Benoît Labourdette (6’11s, 2018).

A traumatic event disrupts the past, the present and the notion of reality.
The red house
The red house

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’17s, 2020).

Back to the place that resources us.
Step by step
Step by step

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’21s, 2021).

One foot in front of the other, but where to?
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Fire (white monkey)

Un film de Benoît Labourdette (3’14s, 2017).

La nuit, quand l’angoisse est là, si l’on ose regarder au delà des cendres de la vie, on peut entrevoir une image du salut.
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Vire, next stop

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’48s, 2013).

One day a train. Chopped audiovisual form, from which emerge childhood memories, confrontation with the self-forgetfulness.
Moving forward into the impossible
Moving forward into the impossible

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’54s, 2025).

After the negation of life, how can we move forward, in the impossible?
Accident
Accident

Un film de Benoît Labourdette (1’57s, 2018).

« Accident sur une dune du désert blanc. Il ne reste que des rides. »
Next train
Next train

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’51s, 2024).

Time stands still. And then life returns. Pain is life. Sweetness is life. Replications. Messages. Double helix. Heal. ExtensionsWhen we live through borderline or traumatic experiences, we may (…)
Little moon
Little moon

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’26s, 2023).

I try to look further, to feel deeper.
Cinema folded
Cinema folded

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’53s, 2013).

Where is cinema ? What is cinema ?
Paris Yellow Pages
Paris Yellow Pages

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’, 2019).

Paris as seen by its paper directory in 2019.
Trio
Trio

Film expérimental de Benoît Labourdette (7’26s, 2015). Avec Marta Zielinska et Senghte Vanh Bouapha.

Un couple de « vivants-fantômes » émane des murs, des sols, des fenêtres, d’un ancien appartement.
The book
The book

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’27s, 2018).

Gather around a book, gather yourself.
  Short films

I make short films as a painter makes paintings, usually in a lonely way, away from academic practices of making cinema. Some films are made in a very spontaneous way, others can take years to mature. I explore the meeting between the image and the world. These are experimental works, which often also tell stories...

Tags

Mannequin

Orchestra

Hippolyte Labourdette

Evening Le fil

Mourning

Video feedback

Hand
See also