Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub, Cinéastes – où gît votre

JeanMarie Straub and Danièle Huillet talk to a group of students about their latest film, Sicilia! The discussion immediately turns into a lesson about filmmaking.Pedro Costa decided to portray the two filmmakers during a workshop held last autumn in the Studio National des Arts Contemporaines in Tourcoing. Danièle Huillet is the boss. JeanMarie Straub measures the editing room by taking giant steps. In their lesson, they keep mixing theory with practice. They talk about the enormous amount of work they have put into some sequences in their films. It is not enough to film them at work, their thoughts about structure and the doubts that break through the rhythm are important. When they talk to the students, these are the first things that are discussed.This film was one of the last episodes of the wellgroomed and already historic documentary series Cinéma de notre temps, the series of portraits of filmmakers initiated by André S. Labarthe and completed in 2001. Costa proves able to tackle a serious subject two filmmakers for whom the adjective stern is a euphemism with nimble elegance.