Si le vent te fait peur + Y mañana (Emile Degelin)

The sixties: film critics and young filmmakers alike were suddenly enthusiastic supporters of a new form of cinema, the French 'nouvelle vague' movement. A few, however, chose the lonely path and Emile Degelin could be counted among the outsiders. Still, Jean-Luc Godard and Emile Degelin shared two things: a radically experimental spirit breaking with traditional film conventions and Rachel, Godard's sister, with whom young Degelin fell deeply in love. These two aspects aside, the native of Diest was quite different from his French counterpart: as a young director he preferred to go his own way and has ever since wandered off the beaten track.

An ambitious Degelin distinguished himself on several occasions; particularly at Cannes Festival in 1960 where his first feature film received public acclaim. In Si le vent te fait peur siblings Claude and Pierre have an ambiguous relationship, verging on the incestuous - against a background of the then bare, almost lunar, landscape of the Belgian North coast.

Quite singular in tone is Y mañana : the lyrical dialogues from Si le vent te fait peur sharply contrast with the deliberately elliptical speech of French comedian Jacques Dufhilo. The audience witnesses his holiday adventures on the Spanish Costa Brava which are reminiscent of burlesque, silent movies and the slapstick world of Jacques Tati.

Along with the two feature films, the DVD contains two short films: Dock and Sirènes. In Dock Emile Degelin shoots a floating dock and follows its journey on the Scheldt River. Intrinsically conceptual, Dock somehow announces Sirènes: Degelin takes a step further here and delivers a musical tale that could qualify as 'filmed music' or 'a musical picture'. Taking its inspiration from James Joyce's Ulysses the film creates a dream- and desert-like seaside world of shipwreck and long-haired mermaids. These seven minutes of pure experimentation were awarded the silver bear at Berlin Festival in 1961.

Extras: two documentaries relating the events that highlighted the filmmaker's career. Emile Degelin retells his film experiences, relives his many encounters and travels. A sincere and intimate portrait.

The Royal Belgian Film Archive would like to thank the Myriam Garfunkel Fund without which this DVD edition would not have been possible.

Language: French, Dutch, English, Spanish
Subtitles: French, Dutch, English