Céline Sciamma Film Festival: Day 5. Pauline (2009)

Pauline

Céline's Role: Director

English Title

Pauline

Year

2009

Screenwriter

Daphne Charbonneau

Form

Short film (8 mins), part of Five Short Films against Homophobia

Synopsis

Pauline is about young woman and her coming out experiences.

Five Short Films against Homophobia , produced for Canal +, are directed by talented young French talents such as Céline Sciamma, Rodolphe Marconi and performed by Raphaël Personnaz, Félix Moati, Anaïs Demoustier and so on. The project was supported by the French Ministry of Education & Sports and the National Institute for Prevention & Health Education.

https://youtu.be/RvgnOqBu314

About the film

Pauline is one of five short films created as part of'Young and Gay and Under the Gaze of Others'project (it probably sounds better in French!). This was a competition organized by the French Ministry of Health & Sports. The goal of the project was to change representations of homosexuality and to encourage reflection on the consequences of homophobia.
Entries into the competition were tasked to "Tell, in a positive way, a situation where a young homosexual is confronted with the gaze of others". 905 proposals were submitted. The jury that selected the winning entries was chaired by the legendary French director André Téchiné, and Céline Sciamma was a member of the jury.Only four films were initially planned to be made, but in addition to the four screenplays that were selected, the screenplay for La Renaissance was awarded a 'special mention'. It was the only film that dealt with lesbians.
The screenplay La Renaissance by Daphné Charbonneau became the short film Pauline and was directed by Céline Sciamma. Pauline features actress Anaïs Demousitier (who was a César Révélation in 2008 along with Adèle and who won the 2020 César for Best Actress), with a cameo appearance by Adéle Haenel.The film is a gentle recounting of a young woman's realization of her attraction to girls / women and the trials that she faced on her journey to acceptance.

In accordance with the competition rules, the selected screenplays were adapted and then produced under the supervision of Téchiné in the form of short films. These short films were broadcast on Canal + group channels and in Utopia cinemas.

As far as I can see, this is the only film that Céline has directed for which she did not write the screenplay.

For more information about the competition see https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeune_et_homo_sous_le_regard_des_autres

Notes

André Téchiné is a legend of French filmmaking and who chaired the jury panel, directed Adéle in L'Homme Que L'on Aimait Trop in 2014, and who co-wrote the screenplay for Quand on a 17 ans (Being 17, 2016) with Céline Sciamma.

About Five Short Films Against Homophobia

The five short films were published on a DVD that was accompanied by a 58pp booklet ( OCLC 758352067 ) and was provided for education professionals as an intervention tool against homophobia.