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 this year’s Berlinale, 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.
Golden Bear, Berlin 2023
Series Media Partner
Community Partner
France
2023
Insights
In French with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Miléna Poylo & Gilles Sacuto, Céline Loiseau
Cinematography
Nicolas Philibert
Editor
Janusz Baranek, Nicolas Philibert
Director
Nicolas Philibert
Born in Nancy, France in 1951, Nicolas Philibert studied philosophy and began his film career in the 1970s as assistant director to René Allio, Alain Tanner and Claude Goretta. Between 1985 and 1987, he directed mountaineering and other sports films for television. After making several shorts, he directed his debut feature-length documentary La Ville Louvre in 1990. His portrait of an orangutan, Nénette, screened in the Berlinale Forum in 2010. Since 2002, his films have been presented in over 100 retrospectives and tribute events around the world.
Filmography: In the Land of the Deaf (1993), To Be and To Have (2002), Nenette (2010), Each and Every Moment (2018)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
In the Room
Brishkay Ahmed's documentary explores the resilience and cultural identity of Afghan women through intimate interviews and archival images. Powerful, urgent, and informative, it reminds us that human rights are fragile and must be fiercely protected.
claire rousay, The Bloody Lady (Live Score) and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
An evening of haunted sound and cinema with claire rousay performing her live score of the animated classic The Bloody Lady and composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe presenting a performance tethered to his cinematic sound worlds (Candyman; Seeds; After Life).
Remaining Native
Teenager Ku Stevens runs toward his dreams while retracing the path of his great-grandfather’s escape from an "Indian boarding school". An impressive, urgent debut from Paige Bethmann about memory, endurance, and what it truly means to remain Native.
I Am Revathi
I Am Revathi offers a deeply personal and intimate glimpse into the life of A. Revathi — trans woman, writer, activist, and theatre artist — amidst the struggles, power, and ongoing fight for dignity and inclusion faced by transgender people in India.
Khartoum
Displaced by war, five exiles of Sudan’s capital give voice to their experiences through reenactment, animation, and recollection. Khartoum is a lyrical, collaborative documentary about survival, exile, and the enduring pulse of a fractured city.
Franz
Veteran Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland takes the bull by the horns to craft a Kafka biopic that's Kafkaesque and then some, artfully layering scenes from Kafka's life and works along with ironic present-day footage for a truly surreal counterpoint.