Renaissance

Black and white, 35 mm
France, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, 2005, 95 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

This black-and-white animated film, visually sometimes compared to Sin City, is set in Paris in 2054. Ilona Tasuiev, a young and talented genetic scientist, is kidnapped, and the supranational corporation Avalon, for which she was working, wants to get her back at any price. The case is assigned to the officer Karas, a controversial policeman and specialist in finding hostages. He sets out into the labyrinth of the metropolis in search of the missing girl. In the course of his investigation he is spied on and intimidated, the witnesses he finds keep dying and someone is trying to kill him too. Karas begins to wonder who the real object of his search is – victim, angel or monster? Finding Ilona becomes a matter of life and death for him. “Paris immediately became obvious as the main setting and character of the film. It was a challenge for us all to create a fantasy Paris that would be as strong as Los Angeles in Blade Runner”, say the film’s creators.

About the director

Christian Volckman studied in the United States and in 1989 entered the École Supérieure d’Arts Graphiques in Paris, where he studied painting, drawing and photography. He made his first animated film The Guinea Pig (Le Cobaye) in his last year at the school, in 1994. This was followed by two video-clips, Le jardinier dort (for the group CharElie Couture) and Paris sur mer (for Love Bizarre). These commissions enabled him to embark in 1995 on the making of a long film, the sci-fi Maaz (1998), which took three years to complete. The film won a total of 32 awards and has been broadcast on several television channels. Renaissance  (2005) is Volckman’s feature debut.