Anouk Nier-Nantes
→ The Hills Are Alive, 2019 (20 min 40 sec)
Anouk Nier-Nantes lives in Grenoble where she works as an author and filmmaker and delivers various art workshops in schools. She grew up in the Alps and graduated from the Haute École des Arts du Rhin in 2020. Through films and books, she examines different contexts (about creation, about life), and the links we maintain with our environment and with the people around us. She also conducts writing and collective work on the topics of pedagogy and working conditions in the arts within the association la vie gagnée.
Nier-Nantes' moving image work, The Hills Are Alive (2019), is set in Athens. Among the seven hills of the Greek capital are Latomia, the former marble mine; Alepotripa, the so-called “Fox’s Hole”; and Lykavittos, the hill of wolves. These three hills are neither nature reserves nor public parks with predetermined pathways. They have no determined status or purpose, allowing people to explore alternative ways to wander and coexist. Latomia, Alepotripa and Lykavittos rise out of the city like islands, and yet they form an underground too, a mine of secrets and mythological stories waiting to be discovered.
Émilie Pierson
→ НA ЧЕРНО МОРЕ — À la Mer Noire, 2018 (10 min 7 sec)
Born to a Bulgarian mother and a French father, Émilie Pierson questions Bulgarian identity and legacy. Through images, objects, sculptures and stories, she examines rituals and traditions, the communist political past, popular culture and Orthodox religion. She observes their traces, mutations and cohabitation in our contemporary society, moving between past and present, between intimate and collective history, and between France and Bulgaria. After graduating from the École Supérieure d’Art de Lorraine in Metz, Pierson represented her city for the Prix d’Art Robert Schuman in 2020. The same year, she was selected for the 69th edition of Jeune Création at the Fondiation Fiminco in Romainville, and FRAC Lorraine invited her to take up the digital residency Et Maintenant. Since 2023, she has been an emerging artist at Bliiida, a third place of inspiration, innovation and collective intelligence in Metz. More recently, she co-curated the exhibition Savoir-Faire, entre art et artisanat, presented at Bliiida. She will be presenting her piece ПРОСПЕРИТЕТ (Prosperity) in January 2025 at the Cercle Cité in Luxembourg.
Pierson's moving image work, НA ЧЕРНО МОРЕ — À la Mer Noire (2018), builds on the artist’s research about her Bulgarian heritage. Filmed in Bulgaria, the work looks into her matrilineal lineage, her country and traditions. From Pierson's nostalgia emerge the frustration of reconciling reality with memories based on family pictures and stories, and the grief and fear of further loss.
Marina Smorodinova
→ Swimming Pool, 2018 (17 min)
Born in Vsevolojsk (Russia), Marina Smorodinova is a graduate of Saint Petersburg State University in Conflict Management, and of L’École Supérieure d’Art de Lorraine and Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporains. Working primarily in moving image, her practice also extends to installation, photography and performance. Smorodinova’s work has been shown at the Nuit Blanche in Paris, the Triennale Jeune Création in Luxembourg, SaarArt2023, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, and at several film and video art festivals, including the Kaohsiung Film Festival, KinoDot, Nice Film Festival, VideoBardo, Fotogenia, Insomnia Animation Festival, DocLisboa and others.
Smorodinova's moving image work, Swimming Pool (2018), is set in a small cross-border town, a former mining site in eastern France, which features an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The architecture and the location of the pool in relation to the town are striking, but the place is nonetheless quite ordinary. There are very few people passing through; it is just a place where regular swimmers go, but prompts us to ask: what are the individual and collective aspirations that come together at the pool?