FRANCE, JAPAN

ON THE ADAMANT Sur l’Adamant

2023 – DCP – colore – 109’

Direction: Nicolas Philibert 

Cinematography: Nicolas Philibert

Editing: Nicolas Philibert, assisted by Janusz Baranek, Meryll Chandru

Sound: Érik Ménard, François Abdelnour

Mixing: Nathalie Vidal 

Cast: pazienti ed operatori del centro diurno

Producers: Miléna Poylo & Gilles Sacuto, Céline Loiseau in co-production with Norio Hatano

Production: TS productions, France 3 Cinéma, Longride

Distribution: I Wonder Pictures

synopsis

The Adamant is a unique day care centre: it is a floating structure. Located on the Seine in the heart of Paris, it welcomes adults suffering from mental disorders, offering them care that grounds them in time and space, and helps them to recover or keep up their spirits. The team running it is one of those that try to resist the deterioration and dehumanization of psychiatry as best it can. The film invites us to board it and meet the patients and caregivers who invent its life day to day.

director’s statement

“The Adamant has managed to remain a lively and attractive place, both for patients and carers, because it does not rest on its laurels. It is a place that is constantly in touch with the outside world, open to everything that is happening, and which welcomes all kinds of contributors. Our filming is an enlightening example of that. Moreover, it is a place that strives to do work on itself, in line with “institutional psychotherapy”, that current of thought with a rather barbaric name that prescribes that, in order to care for people – and to keep desire alive – the institution must be cared for, that it must fight relentlessly against everything that inevitably threatens it: repetition, hierarchy, excessive verticality, withdrawal, inertia, bureaucracy… And the place itself is very beautiful, which counts for a lot: the spaces, the materials, its location, the proximity of the water…”

premi awards

2023 Berlinale – Competition: Golden Bear

2023 Silk Road IFF China:olden Silk Road Award as Best Documentary