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On the Adamant film image

On the Adamant

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Moored on the Seine in central Paris, not far from the city’s main cultural landmarks, is a huge, floating barge known as The Adamant, an institutional psychotherapy day centre where patients are “co-authors of their care.” A sanctuary for adults with mental disorders, the institution is unique in both architecture and approach, offering its visitors a range of counseling, education, and cultural activity, with a special emphasis on art therapy. Indeed, its focus on the latter is such that Nicolas Philibert’s humane documentary at times plays like a paean to outsider art.

Winner of the Golden Bear at last year’s Berlin Film Festival, the latest from veteran documentarian Nicolas Philibert (Etre et Avoir) offers a compassionate look at the human workings of this singular care-based facility. Less focused on institutional nuts and bolts than on the patients, the film maintains an intimate but respectful distance from its subjects, always allowing them to speak and reveal themselves on their own terms. Tender and perceptive in equal measure, it is a moving testament to the vital importance of human expression.

Director

Nicolas Philibert

Credits
Country of Origin

France

Year

2023

Language

In French with English subtitles

Awards

Golden Bear, Berlin 2023

19+
109 min
TS Productions

Book Tickets

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Credits

Producer

Miléna Poylo & Gilles Sacuto, Céline Loiseau

Cinematography

Nicolas Philibert

Editor

Janusz Baranek, Nicolas Philibert

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