POP 567 Friday 22 April 2011

Today's POP is Stephanie, who met Antoine. Antoine’s been shooting in and around at Hyères for the past 5 years. Now he’s got something just for us.

In this POP-exclusive screening of his latest work, Antoine documents the 25th Anniversary of the festival. I went ahead and asked him a few questions about the film and the fest.

How did you first get involved with the festival?
In 2006, my friend Giorgio Martinoli (Creative Director of L'Officiel) put me in touch with Diane Pernet, who was looking for a new team to cover the festival after working with Disciple Films for several years.At that time I had done only a few fashion-related films besides my work in advertising. Although initially I was only a cameraman, I developed a great working relationship with Diane, and ended up doing some of the editing of that first film (2006's "H for Hyères"). Then every year I ended up doing more: writing/producing/filming/editing the films, creating teasers to generate excitement for the festival, but also curating/producing some exhibitions there (2009's "C'était Hyères" exhibit and 2010's "ASVOFF Hyères Edition") as well as helping others artists with the production of their exhibitions.

Since the beginning of your collaboration with Hyères in 2007, what have you noticed or found interesting about the development of the works selected and featured? Have you noticed trends develop or deteriorate within each discipline, i.e. photography, design, etc., or within the industry in general?
Mmmm…Certainly in fashion things have changed a lot, more than in photography – Michel Mallard always has a very consistent vision which he uses to curate the photo competition. But he has been able to get bigger and bigger names each year (Steven Klein, Steven Meisel, etc). On the fashion side, there have been a lot of changes – first of all, the festival now gives the Jury President the chance to pick out the other members of the jury, and to actually pick the 10 designers in competition.
So as a whole it is much more shaped by the designer who is presiding. It's always been difficult for the young designers who have gone through Hyères to convert those awards into commercial success (not everyone has the chance Viktor & Rolf had), to mature, but I think it's definitely gotten worse in the last few years – fashion as whole is not into innovation these days, there is little time for development and research, the mentality is very much "right, so how do make money off of this right away, where is the cocktail dress". That has definitely influenced the jury members. As a whole there's been a greater use of video in the festival, culminating in last year's edition which had no less than 4 different video installations — though this year there is no video, so it's not an absolute formula. The festival still remains unpredictable, which is what makes it exciting.

In the past you’ve been quite playful with the format of your Hyères-related films (fake TV-shows, video-blogging, sphynx-like question and answers), this film is much more serious in its documentary style. It’s also quite celebratory, you can really sense the accomplishment of the festival’s 25th anniversary. Was this your intention?
Well to be completely honest, the previous films had really been planned beforehand, while with this one I was a bit overwhelmed with all my other duties (helping René Habermacher with his Spectre exhibit, working with Theo Mercier on the "haunted view on fashion" installation, post producing my own fashion film, etc).
So Jason Last and I filmed the things which seemed most important, and then I put it all aside and really took the time to let it sink in.
I didn't even start editing proper until January (shameful shrug).I did want to celebrate the 25th edition, because it's quite a milestone for an event like this – it always feels like a one-off magic event, it's hard to believe they've renewed it for 25 years. In the end, I worked less on the concept and more on the writing of the voice-overs and colors, which I think created a more distinctive mood.

What do you enjoy most about filming and working with the festival?
It's the villa and the people.The Villa is an amazing place, and the festival makes it come alive in a way that is simply hard to parallel.
It feels like a privilege to go each year.
You're always trying to describe it, to convey that feeling, and somehow you can't, but that's the challenge actually – trying to capture and communicate to others this energy you're experiencing.
Of course the best thing about this festival are the people. Both the people in the festival and the festivalgoers are great, and because everyone is so relaxed, you can share a lot of things with designers, photographers, artists whom you wouldn't dare approach if you saw them in London or Paris. It's about barriers coming down in order to spread creativity.

Do you have plans for future collaborations with Hyères?
Well, this year I have less duties, but new challenges nonetheless – my THE STIMULEYE crew and I are filming the fashion shows and award ceremonies, trying to broadcast them live-ish on the internet (as they are happening or right after).
I have other things I would like to contribute to the festival of course, but it's hard to plan things too far in advance with the festival, as it's constantly changing direction to remain surprising.
Check out Antoine’s latest blog project THE STIMULEYE.

Big thanks to this project's contributors:

www.yoannlemoine.com

www.jasonlaststudio.com

www.neue.be

www.geraldinefrainais.com

www.changetheshape.com

www.jeanpaullespagnard.com