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In their absence

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’43s, 2019).
10 March 2019. Published by Benoît Labourdette.

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

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All the films in « Short films »
Vanitas
Vanitas

A film by Benoît Labourdette (12’56s, 2016). With Bénédicte Loyen.

Feverish dream in a baroque chapel. A vanitas with words.
Men and doll
Men and doll

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’58s, 2014).

Bordeaux. Saint-Michel square with roadworks. Night. Hardly anyone goes. The memory of a tragedy within the body of a disjointed doll.
The event
The event

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

Observe what is going on behind the eternal appearances.
Just a tree
Just a tree

A film by Benoît Labourdette - text by Sonia Leplat (1’28s, 2021).

Thinking, overthinking...
Cinema folded
Cinema folded

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

Where is cinema ? What is cinema ?
Vocal strings
Vocal strings

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’31s, 2012).

From the eroticism of the musical instrument.
The red house
The red house

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

Back to the place that resources us.
Brahim's backpack
Brahim’s backpack

A film by Benoît Labourdette (5’04s, 2016).

A rat race, to mourn the departure of the beloved.
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.
You are here
You are here

A film by Benoît Labourdette (5’33s, 2011).

The blind run in the streets.
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.
Love in the confined present tense
Love in the confined present tense

A film by Benoît Labourdette, with the collaboration of Marie Désert, François Cany and Jean-Baptiste Hanak (1’00s, 2020).

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

A film by Françoise Simpère and Benoît Labourdette (6’38s, 2020).

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.
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 (…)
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.
Indifference
Indifference

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

Rediscover the world, between its real and imaginary dimensions, with a new shooting tool.
I've seen you
I’ve seen you

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’09s, 2014).

Where is our body ?
Straw fire
Straw fire

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

Dead animals are helplessly witnessing human violence.
I parked my scooter
I parked my scooter

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’38s, 2003).

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

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’22s, 1998).

Ode to childbirth by a young adult.
The line
The line

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’06s, 2020).

Light is what gives existence.
Sands Hotel
Sands Hotel

A film by Benoît Labourdette (6’28s, 2016).

Remember the presence of the lost loved one in a hotel room surrounded by sand.
Dream
Dream

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

Regards et désirs dans le métro.
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.
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?
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.
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”!
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.
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).
Fragile hopscotch in the sky
Fragile hopscotch in the sky

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’31s, 2019).

The inner experience of a moment of pedagogical innovation in the classroom.
A seated man
A seated man

A film by Benoît Labourdette (7’37s, 2022).

The work of mourning, such a slow movement of life.
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...
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.
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.
A tree in tears grows again
A tree in tears grows again

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

Life after.
Waves are water
Waves are water

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’14s, 2023).

Meditation on the depth of feeling in the world, based on a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh.
The men on camera
The men on camera

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’45s, 2015).

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

A film by Benoît Labourdette (7’, 2017).

To be there without being there, not to be there by being there. To be above all within oneself. Meditate. In the subway.
In their absence
In their absence

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’43s, 2019).

There are times when you have the feeling, if not the certainty, that you’ve missed the point.
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
ROSEBUD 2022, the end of cinema
ROSEBUD 2022, the end of cinema

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’45s, 2022).

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.
Under the cobblestones of Belfast Beach
Under the cobblestones of Belfast Beach

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’05s, 2005).

The fascination of being able to film what happens in everyday life, thanks to the first mobile phones equipped with cameras.
That light
That light

A flm by Benoît Labourdette (1’36s, 2022).

One night, as if nothing had happened.
News from father
News from father

A movie by Benoît Labourdette (2’19s, 2014).

Life on a blank screen...
Pencil camera
Pencil camera

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’11s, 2005).

One of the first movies shot with mobile phone.
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.
The old hallway
The old hallway

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’44s, 2021).

The adult world, incomprehensible to a dominated, abused child.
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 ?
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...
Barcelona hotel
Barcelona hotel

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’44s, 2012).

Autofiction on adultery.
Sleeping in Paris
Sleeping in Paris

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

Finding meaning in life, despite its most terrible tragedies
Paris Yellow Pages
Paris Yellow Pages

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

Paris as seen by its paper directory in 2019.
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 (…)
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.
Relic
Relic

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

How can we give a place in our Life to those who have left?
The meeting
The meeting

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

A meeting, like a thousand other meetings. No, it is your meeting.
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes

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

Preparations for a cinematic event.
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 (…)
Vire, next stop
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.
On the void
On the void

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

Meditate, yes... but how to do it?
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 (…)
Remembering Alice
Remembering Alice

A film by Benoît Labourdette (6’40s, 2017). With Marion Geerebaert.

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.
Madeleine
Madeleine

Un film de Benoît Labourdette (3’23s, 2010).

Nostalgie musicale dans le métro à Toronto.
Accident
Accident

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

« Accident sur une dune du désert blanc. Il ne reste que des rides. »
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.
Paris, end of August
Paris, end of August

A film by Benoît Labourdette, 4 minutes, 2009, digital, Scope 2.35, Color, stereo.

We meet a homeless in the street and we forget, one minute later.
Serious accident for a traveler
Serious accident for a traveler

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’43s, 2005).

In 2005, the cameras appear in the phones, and invite to film the daily. One of the first movies shot on mobile phones.
Far
Far

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’43s, 2013).

“Far, far away in my thoughts, at the end of the screen of my eyes printed with electronic images.”
Are you calling for help?
Are you calling for help?

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’01s, 2022).

Step by step, the quest for life, meeting a tragic fate.
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.
The beach
The beach

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

On an indoor beach, memories and sensual projections.
Memory Palace
Memory Palace

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’17s, 2022).

How can a simple place become the crucible for the revelation of our childhood memories?
FrEE zonE
FrEE zonE

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’52s, 2017).

The remembrance of a drama, and an unexpected confession.
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, (…)
Clément Thomas Joseph Marianne Philippe
Clément Thomas Joseph Marianne Philippe

Un film de Benoît Labourdette (11’17s, 2013).

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 (…)
First
First

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.
Nature
Nature

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

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

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

How to accompany the one who is no longer there?
Little moon
Little moon

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

I try to look further, to feel deeper.
Door
Door

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’54s, 2018).

Listening at the doors. A deeper, poetic and contemplative exercise than one might imagine at first glance.
The land
The land

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’25s, 2020).

“A place of one’s own, what is it?”
City lights
City lights

Un film de Benoît Labourdette (4’00s, 2023).

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.
Black series
Black series

A film by Benoît Labourdette (10’06s, 2015). With Marion Geerebaert.

After the death was sown into arbitrariness, a young woman comes back to haunt her mate.
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.
Heart of/for freedom
Heart of/for freedom

Un film de Benoît Labourdette (1’40s, 2019).

Au delà des barrières, des barbelés, des prisons, le cœur vivant est toujours battant.
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.
Step by step
Step by step

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

One foot in front of the other, but where to?
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 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.
Choir
Choir

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

Music softens morals.
Back to childhood
Back to childhood

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

Life was a gift.
Imaginary territory
Imaginary territory

Artwork digital video. Benoît Labourdette (5’51s, 2014).

Abstract shapes, children color from the sky.
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.
Uprooted
Uprooted

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

To see oneself in front of the roots of a tree.
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.
The hand
The hand

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’03s, 2021).

Man’s hand is what gives him speech.
Fragile and forgotten silhouettes
Fragile and forgotten silhouettes

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’15s, 2023).

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 kiss 1234567
The kiss 1234567

A film by Benoît Labourdette (12’46s, 2013).

How to share the silent screams, behind families with smooth histories ?
Pascal's flowers
Pascal’s flowers

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’18s, 2011).

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.
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.
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 (…)
Reserved for nurses
Reserved for nurses

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’19s, 2011).

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 (…)
Already the architecture
Already the architecture

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’36s, 2018).

Contemplative quest for meaning in an abandoned summer camp.
Fire (white monkey)
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.
Oh night
Oh night

A film by Benoît Labourdette (1’29s, 2022).

A postcard seems to come to life, and write its own legend.
Blue eyes
Blue eyes

A film by Benoît Labourdette (4’47s, 2016).

Facing our child, real or imagined.
Openings
Openings

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’51s, 2013).

Paradoxical injunctions in school space of a College, with a musical treatment.
Back in time
Back in time

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

What if, what if, what if... sometimes you wish you could turn back the clock.
Each morning
Each morning

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.
The young witch
The young witch

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

The child knows her powers.
Spectra
Spectra

A film by Benoît Labourdette, in collaboration with Louise Moaty (3’59s, 2014).

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

Un film de Benoît Labourdette (6’07s, 2017).

Des animaux en plastique nous parlent.
Poster
Poster

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’02s, 2012).

A touch film, made of paper and words.
Chairs
Chairs

A film by Benoît Labourdette (3’26s, 2012). Musical improvisation by Olivier Mellano.

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 (…)
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.
End of the silent movie
End of the silent movie

A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’31s, 2021).

At times, time and space are reversed.
Liberty is in your mind
Liberty is in your mind

Un film de Benoît Labourdette (2’15s, 2018).

Se remémorer que la liberté se conquière d’abord à l’intérieur de nous, quelle que soit la situation extérieure.
Parking dance #100
Parking dance #100

A film by Sandra Abouav and Benoît Labourdette (3’27s, 2020).

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 (…)
Reflection alone
Reflection alone

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

How to find oneself and the world after the shock?
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...
Myopia
Myopia

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

Myopia can be triggered by trauma. We are left with poetry.
Stones of memory
Stones of memory

A film by Benoît Labourdette (8’44s, 2021).

A meditation on the construction of one’s own memory, one’s “memory palace”.
The Unanswered Question Revisited
The Unanswered Question Revisited

Benoît Labourdette’s film and music (2’07s, 2018).

What is life? Can simple little plastic animals help us find the answer to this question?
The book
The book

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

Gather around a book, gather yourself.
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?
  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...

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Hotel

Guitar

River

Night

Secret

Reflection

Chambord Castle

Castle
See also