Artists and projects
Cécile Bouillot

I was trained as an actress took at the CNSAD; recently I have started taking an interest in video as a medium and I’ve made various video clips. My purpose is to show and report facts rather than to create fiction.

I like filming people from all walks of life. I do not expect them to act but to be themselves when they are sitting in front of my camera.

My technique aims to draw out each person’s uniqueness and talent, by capturing their truths, often through trivial details and small particularities: I hunt for the infra-ordinary  à la Pérec.

My objectives are:

* to capture and film memory as one would a silhouette, a landscape, a character, the sea, a bird or a smile
* to show memory with the same evidence and simplicity as I show eyes, hands, faces and skin
* to ultimately unveil random portraits of our society

My goal is to film a diversity of people, women, children, old-timers, workers, pensioners, teenagers, and to transpose this material into various media, for example video installations or video clips.

I will tackle a variety of themes: the worlds of poetry, fairy tales, music, first loves, neighbourhoods, commemoration and memories …

What motivates me is :

* to prompt memory (first and foremost)
* to encourage people to realise their place as important actors on the stage of urban and social life
* to boost people’s egos, and help them build self-confidence and trust in others
* to weave sensitive bonds, however unexpected
* to both nurture intimacy and dispel anonymity
* to reinforce people’s pride in being part of a community
* to be together in the here and now
* to help create social ties, while encouraging kind attitudes and neighbourly behaviour
* to value memory and to throw light on the intensity of recollection
* to get to know and approach others from different angles
* to motivate others to live life as part of a whole : proud, committed and in charge in one’s own city
* to promote and demystify poetry, freeing it from the shackles of litterature by unveiling it and putting it within everyone’s reach
* to present a direct access to culture

It seems that these days people are seeking for new ways of living together more than they ever did before, and to express their longing for a shared civic commitment through recollections.

It’s my credo is best expressed via a haiku’s swiftness :

                                             « To capture truth in the present

                                             To vibrate in the moment

                                             Voilà ! »

                                             CB

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