From the 20th April to the 13th July 2016, the Pôle Image Haute-Normandie welcomes the public to discover “Regard Caméra : a previously unseen vision of portrait in amateur cinema”. This cinema exhibition is being produced as a part of the Normandie Impressionniste Festival.

The “regard caméra” in cinema is when a person suddenly looks into the recording camera. The member of the audience is hence, face to face with the character. In fictional cinema, actors are often told not to look straight at the camera, not to break the narration which is in progress and the fourth wall. When filmmakers use ‘regard caméra’ it is intended to create a breach and to get the public’s attention ; for the audience to become involved or even complicit. An example of this is when the young Antoine Doinel from The 400 blows (Les quatre cents coups) watches the spectator in the last sequence of François Truffaut’s movie.

In amateur cinema, the rules are different. The connection between the filmmaker and their subjects like love, anger, and fights increases the number of ‘regard caméra’ moments. It is this personal perspective that forces the viewer to discover the originality of the scene. The Pole Image Haute-Normandie proposes to discover this topic, with several public screenings, in the Chapelle du Pôle des Savoirs in Rouen (Normandy, France).

This event is organized for the festival Normandie Impressionniste. A special day is scheduled on Thursday the 16th of June, with two conferences that will be held from 2 pm onward. Roger Odin, semiology specialist, founder of the studies on amateur cinema in France, will talk about the family film. Alain Esmery, president of the association INEDITS, will propose an analysis of the Louis Estevez archive, preserved by the Forum des Images (Paris). After that Stephanie Ange and Julie Guillaumot will come to present the INEDITS new website.

Further informations on Pôle Image Haute-Normandie.

Conferences have been recorded. Listen and watch here.