Winner > Best Short Documentary
Synopsis
In a retirement home of a small village in the South of France, residents try to build a society in this anonymous environment, often perceived as hostile. What ties do they still manage to forge? What remedies do they find to cope with loneliness? What does this reveal about the intimate relationship they have with life as they approach death?
“EMPTY HOURS” makes visible beings and bodies that are rarely represented, bodies that are aging but nonetheless very much alive, and attempts to detect the irrepressible vital force that nestles, often secretly, at the heart of this antechamber of death.
Director – Judith Longuet Marx
Judith Longuet-Marx graduated from INSAS in directing in 2015. She founded the LAÏKA company and directed several shows: Le Palace de Rémi (2018), Piñata frustration (2020) and Tourisme (2022). At the same time, she collaborates with Claude Schmitz as an assistant director on his shows. She directed her first documentary film in a retirement home Empty Hours.
