Underworld cinema

With the release of La BM du seigneur in 2011, Jean-Charles Hue brilliantly passed the test of the feature film. In this case, distribution on the art et essai theatrical circuit—coming on top of exhibition in art galleries—holds more than symbolic value: it is the expression of an ability to work, at once and separately, on the terrains of experimental cinema, documentary and the grand narrative genre. Jean-Charles Hue immerses himself in marginal worlds (with the Yenich or in Tijuana), their codes, their narratives and stories, as in the work he conducts with non-professional actors seemingly reinventing themselves as fictional characters. The filmmaker’s contract with his filmed subjects brings together the taste for adventure and a deep empathy, with the collective invention of the material of a film as a result. In his work with the Gipsies as in his Mexican films, a form is elaborated, showing the author’s grasp of the subject, but also the way the subject takes hold of him. The discussion should be lively with this artist and filmmaker, so evidently prone to exchange and negotiation. With art historian Katia Schneller.

A personal show of Jean-Charles Hue’s work was presented at the Fondation d’entreprise Ricard in 2007