Carte blanche to La Poudrière
La Poudrière offers an advanced course in directing animation films. The school was created in 1999, thanks to support from public sector partners and players in the animation field, most notably the company Folimage, who initially had the idea for an animation course. The programme is recognized by the French Culture Ministry.
Directing films: the primary mission of La Poudrière is to give students the opportunity to confront all aspects of filmmaking, from scripting to editing, while learning to collaborate with composers and sound creators. Storytelling is at the heart of directing. The goal is to train professionals who can tell original stories, but with their own personal sensibility, talent, and emotions.
Honing curiosity: the small class size (9 or 10 students) and the diversity of students creates a strong emulation and a great cultural richness. A starting point for a director’s work is their general knowledge. But this is not acquired in the classroom. Instead, learning comes through meetings in various settings, within the school, at the cinema, the theater, in festivals…
Assimilating the cinema: movie theaters play an important role for students throughout the year. Seeing films, learning from them, and also meeting and interacting with the creators. Getting to experience cinema through recent works as well as classics, and getting behind the scenes to see how these emotions and stories get made. Meeting the audiences, listening…
Known as a film school, La Poudrière has already had 162 students from 32 countries (of which 20 are in Europe). Its films have received more than 140 international awards, including 5 prizes at Clermont-Ferrand, a nomination for the César…and three César trophies for its graduates.
La Poudrière favors screening its films in the movie theater and endeavors toward greater recognition of the short film as a cinematic work. The school is particularly proud that the festival in Clermont has given them a Carte Blanche screening series. To kick off the school’s 20th anniversary, 2 shorts programmes will commemorate the event. 36 short films comprise: scholastic exercise films – with a specific theme (gluttony, sports, children’s viewpoint) – and thesis films, some having been selected or awarded prizes in Clermont (Chroniques du pont, Conte de faits, M’échapper de son regard, Nocturne, Picore). A colorful palette of genres and techniques, from pencil to stop-motion, animated sand to charcoal.
