For thirty-five years, Sylvie Brass, artistic director at La Rochelle Film FestivalAnd, along with a handful of others, the festival’s spirit is “stubbornly non-competitive,” General Delegates Sophie Meyrouz and Arnaud Dumatine wrote in their editorial.
The beginning of the first decade of the twenty-first century
Sylvie Brass landed from Paris, in the old port of La Rochelle, in 1986. The festival, directed by its founder Jean-Loup Pasek, who was in charge of the performances department at the Larousse editions, was still very literal there. A few thousand film buffs from all over France came to discover young filmmakers from around the world who are still completely unknown (such as Italian director Nani Moretti, who now works regularly at the Cannes Film Festival), with a strong penchant for Yugoslav and Polish, Russian cinema.. .
“Some professionals no longer want to go to Cannes but come to La Rochelle because there is no such pressure here”
The role took place in the early 2000s with the arrival of Prune Engler, Passek’s loyal collaborator. “The festival was held in the Blue Hall of La Coursive and at The Dragon. Then we had the idea of using the large La Coursive hall which was not yet equipped with a big screen. We started with a night on the thriller story. Early morning festival goers ended up with breakfast in the Old Port, With mugs presented by Genevieve Litho (a La Rochelle designer who revolutionized table arts, editor’s note), ”recalls the Artistic Director, who for thirty-five years has been in charge of the cinema at the Center Pompidou.
Jean-Loup Pasek (at the microphone), author of the La Rochelle Film Festival, June 29, 1990.
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Since then, Sylvie Brass has been tirelessly participating in the development of the festival by creating different sections (“Discovery”, “From Yesterday to Today”, “Music and Cinema”…) and bringing in more filmmakers.
“Festival goers ended up early in the morning with breakfast in the Old Port, with cups given by Genevieve Leto”
Within ten years, Fema had gone from 20,000 to 90,000 spectators. “We have changed the festival, we have given it a space in a changing world, we are doing more than a thousand times, festivals have multiplied…but the festival has not lost its spirit,” says Sylvie Brass.
