Staande! Debout! (2013)
“Anu Pennanen and Stéphane Querrec explore the archeology of public spaces in their latest work Staande! Debout! During a period of one year, they followed a group of people in the Belgian town of Vilvoorde, where 15 years ago French automobile manufacturer Renault suddenly closed down the entire car industry. Then, 1997, 4000 car factory workers responded with strikes and organized protests, which paralyzed Belgium for several weeks. A solidarity movement spread throughout Europe and created in response transnational operations, a “Euro Strike”.
Despite these protracted and vast protests the local factory was shut down with far-reaching consequences for social life. All the people the artists followed during the project lost their jobs, even though they had been active in trying to influence the circumstances of their lives in the shadow of the multinational industry. But after fifteen years, only shadows remain.
Pennanen and Querrec’s starting point was the group’s experiences, and their interpretations; a fictional screenplay around issues of work, solidarity, cohesion and opportunities to re-evaluate one’s situation. The film tells each person’s story in a sensitive, poetic and humane manner. The stories are tied around the local Solidarity Monument, shaped to form a clenched fist, and molds itself a silent monument on the individual’s ability to influence their own lives.
The movie was partly filmed in the abandoned Renault area along the canal in Vilvoorde and thus forms a documentation of the archaeological ruins of an epoch. The shooting was completed against a deadline. The entire industrial facility will finally be demolished and is to make way for a new shopping center. The previous production now turns into concrete consumption.”
Maria Hirvi-Ijäs, Hjärnstorm Journal #115
English title / Staande! Debout!
Original title / Staande! Debout!
Type / Single channel
Country / Finland, Belgium, Germany
Picture ratio / 4:3
Duration / 00:38:14
Language / French, Flemish
Sound format / Dolby Surround 5.1
Year / 2013
Camera / Irina Lubchansky; camera assistant Pierre-Hubert Martin
Sound / Gilles Laurent
Sound Mix / Titus Maderlechner
Lead actor / Félix Verhaverbeke
Production / Palo Productions
Production manager Belgium / Francoise Hoste – On Move productions
Photography / Jasper Van Gheluwe
Funders / Helanderin Säätiö, TAIKE, AVEK
> Read an interview of Anu Pennanen and Stéphane Querrec by Esther Severi
