Par-delà les nuages – Le cinéma de Marion Hänsel

Belgian director Marion Hänsel (1949) to whom IFFR has dedicated the Marion Hänsel, à la vie programme section, is often inspired by nature. In Caroline D'Hondt's portrait of her, she states that since childhood she views "the sky as the biggest cinema screen in the world", something her film Nuages, lettres à mon fils (2001) pays testament to.

On the basis of conversations with Hänsel and some of her permanent crew members, a remarkable portrait is created of a filmmaker who is also her own producer, i.e. boss. The relationship between characters and their natural environment plays a major role in her work that is often based on novels: Dust (J.M. Coetzee), Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Nikos Kavvadias) and The Quarry (Damon Galgut). Hänsel has a cosmopolitan approach, composes precise images and uses sound and meaningful locations (mainly landscapes) to create the right atmosphere. 

Also see Par-delà les nuages – In Conversation with Marion Hänsel.