To archive local heritage, Ofnibus travels across France in search of our old, forgotten family films
Raphaël Lacroix, piercing blue eye, naughty smile and false air of director Claude Lelouch has the knack for captivating his audience. The public is gathered at the Polar Worlds space in Prémanon (Jura), where the Ofnibus association (“non-inventoried film objects, traveling archive residence”) has set up its workshop for three days.
At 82 years old, the native of Bois-d’Amont, a rural commune perched in the heights of the Jura, has experienced almost everything… The Liberation, the Olympic Games of Grenoble (1968) and Albertville (1992), the arrival of the Internet…
But, above all, he filmed everything. From ski competitions where we can guess a future Olympic champion (who does not yet have all his teeth) to the work of workers in watchmaking and steel factories. So, there is no shortage of anecdotes.
Raphaël Lacroix fell into the cinematic pothole in 1965… Twenty years after the war, France was preparing to experience May 1968 and was passionate about a new technological feat, the Super 8. Launched by the American company Kodak, this camera was the first intended for amateurs. It democratizes the film, which invites itself into homes, by the corner of chimneys during Christmas evenings or on holiday beaches.
These traces of the 1970s are clearly visible in the boxes scattered throughout the Ofnibus workshop. “There, there is a whole pile of cassettes brought by a Jura woman who had inherited them from her dad,” marvels Margot Lestien, one of the three employees of the association, responsible for collecting the reels. On the back, labels faded with time indicate: “Vacances Algérie 82; Corsica 83; Yugoslavia 86”… Quite a journey.
Intimate and universal
To build this fund, Margot spent weeks scouring the depths of the Internet, examining maps of the region and calling a number of filmmakers’ clubs and media libraries. While most film owners agree to offer these testimonies to the community, some retract when it comes time to reveal part of their private life. Others happily get rid of all these relics belonging to an ancestor, with which they didn’t really know what to do with.
After careful consideration and long hesitation, Raphaël Lacroix decided to donate his short films carefully stored in boxes. “At first, I thought I would keep them for myself, then Margot convinced me that these films would be more useful to others than to me. »
Once recovered, the films are digitized and copied onto a computer before being sent to the department’s media library archives and museums. A way of bringing local heritage to life. The approach has already proven itself in Forez, Drôme and Sarthe, where Ofnibus has taken up residence during previous residencies.
“We often think of works of art as a tool for transmission, but these amateur films, sometimes poorly framed, blurry, intimate, form precious testimonies, a superb way of telling History,” judges Laetitia Therond, head of the space of the polar worlds. This is something donors don’t always suspect. Almost every time you pass in front of the scanner used to digitize the reels, a phrase comes back like a wave: “But my film won’t interest you. » “And I always answer them: but yes, you’ll see,” laughs Pierre Bouchut, the audiovisual technician who places the film on the machine so that it is captured by a laser camera at the end of the line.
Precious archives of the future
The images of the past then come to life, for the duration of a projection, in front of a crowd of curious people… “Oh! And we manage to do that with all this mess of modern machines! » comments, dazzled, Jean-Pierre Jacquin, a film buddy of Raphaël Lacroix, who also came with his hands full of reels.
“The idea is that these films don’t leave with their authors. These are real treasures which will be used for fiction projects, exhibitions or documentaries. So Apocalypse, impossible peace, 1918-1926 was produced with a number of amateur archives,” insists Pierre Bouchut, already looking to the future…
At the end of the residency, Pierre, Margot and Stéphanie will screen a feature-length film at Prémanon, a monochrome from the local archives collected; accompanied by a musician. Moments which will perhaps be filmed, with a smartphone this time… Before being dusted off in half a century.
Recipes for Ofnibus success
- Public funding. The Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (Drac) most often finances half the cost of a residence. Municipal communities and cinema libraries complete this.
- Second hand. VCRs, new VHS, viewers from the 1920s… All these treasures have been donated by individuals, loaned by media libraries or found in flea markets. Even the scanner was acquired second-hand.
- Listening. The association was created to preserve traces of our past. The process requires time and education. The trio takes care to respect the wishes of the families.