A photo from Manon Montrouge's short film with actress Jade Vergnes.

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Jeanne Degois, Hugo Mons, Arthur Du Peuty

  • A student at Sciences Po Bordeaux, Marion Montrouge participates in the Nikon Film Festival with a short film on street harassment.

  • It features Alma, played by actress Jade Vergnes, arrested on a metro platform.

  • Public votes are possible on the festival platform until April 11.

At 22, Manon Montrouge, a student at Sciences Po Bordeaux, is participating in the 11th edition of the Nikon Film Festival which begins this Wednesday, online.

A director in her spare time, this is not her first short film, but it is the first that she directs surrounded by professionals (in particular the Crash-test production association) and which competes in a festival.

She has chosen to evoke in her short film

“Bien

retour

”

of 2'20 ”the subject of street harassment. 

How did you come to approach this theme?

It's been a while since we wanted to participate in the Nikon Film Festival with friends.

This year the theme was games and I couldn't find a particular approach… Until this summer when I was harassed in the Marais in Paris.

It was the first time that it was so violent.

And, as this happened to me a second time in less than 24 hours, I was struck that these people wanted to laugh.

I told myself that it wasn't a game and that it didn't make me laugh.

It was at this point that I had the idea to link the theme of the game with that of street harassment.

How did you work on this phenomenon of street harassment, before making the short film?

I had been paying attention to what my friends were saying for a while, quite often in Paris but also in Bordeaux.

I started to take notes on the practices of each and for example the key that we see in the hand of Alma, the heroine, at the end of the short film that comes from a testimony.

It is striking to think that it can take a few minutes of a stalker's day when the victim can be traumatized over several years, even life.

Why did you choose to highlight a scene of harassment in transport, identified as “at risk” places?

It's something that appeals to me a lot that women are sadly passing by in public space.

Even without paying any attention to anyone, they are continually being hissed, called out, etc.

In any case, personally, it happens to me very very regularly, it happened to me again this week, moreover… So, I have adapted my behavior, I am more vigilant, I am more careful.

I also read about how to protect myself, how to limit interactions with the stalker as much as possible.

The short film is really centered on the heroine Alma.

We don't see close-ups on stalkers, why?

I wanted to visually translate the point of view of the main character, Alma, because I think there is no typical profile of the stalker.

For me it was important that it remain on her perception, to show this capsule, this solitude in which some victims find themselves plunged.

And the ignorance of passers-by contributes to that.

Even if we can understand that, if it is terrifying for the victim, it is also for those who witness the scene.

I wanted to stay on her gaze that's why the camera stays as close as possible to her.

We made real aesthetic and artistic choices to make films above all, I didn't want to make a concept film to talk about harassment at all costs.

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Nikon Film Festival

In total, some 1,200 films will be posted on the Nikon Film Festival platform.

Fifty of them will be shortlisted and will be viewed by a jury who will award prizes.

There is also a public prize with online votes which are organized from this Wednesday at the end of the day until April 11.

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