Invited as guest of honor, the French filmmaker, director, and screenwriter Nicolas Philibert will be present on May 29 and 30, 2026 in Tinchebray, (Orne) to accompany several screenings.
Born in Nancy in 1951, he grew up in Grenoble and has been living in Paris since the age of 20. After studying philosophy, he turned to filmmaking and started as a trainee and then assistant director, notably with René Alliot and Alain Tanner.
Nicolas Philibert, the focus of the weekend
A major figure in French cinema, he began as an assistant to René Alliot before creating a personal body of work, acclaimed internationally. Refusing the label of a mere documentarian, he develops a deeply human perspective on subjects and places.
His film Étre et avoir achieved tremendous success, while Sur l’Adamant received the Golden Bear at the Berlinale. For over 25 years, over 130 tributes and retrospectives have been dedicated to him worldwide. The filmmaker has received fourteen nominations.
Three days of screenings at Normandy
- Friday, May 29 at 8:00 pm: Étre et avoir. French documentary directed by Nicolas Philibert. Officially selected at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2002 and released in France on August 28, 2002, the film follows a school year with a teacher and his single class of children aged 4 to 11 in a communal school in Saint-Étienne-sur-Usson, in the Livradois-Forez regional natural park, Auvergne.
Étre et avoir was well received by critics who praised its simplicity and the emotion conveyed by the actors. Nicolas Philibert’s editing work was honored with a César, and the film received numerous awards.
To the director’s surprise, the film was highly successful with the public and was seen by nearly two million viewers in France and over a million in the 17 countries where it was released. It was the 20th most-watched film in French cinemas in 2002 and represented the biggest success.
- Saturday, May 30 at 2:30 pm: Dive into Sur l’Adamant. “L’Adamant is a unique Day Center: it’s a floating building. Built on the Seine, in the heart of Paris, it welcomes adults suffering from psychiatric disorders, offering them a framework of care that structures them in time and space, helps them reconnect with the world, and regain some momentum. The team that animates it is one that tries to resist as much as it can the decay and dehumanization of psychiatry. This film invites us to come on board to meet the patients and caregivers who invent day after day the daily life. “
- Saturday, May 30 at 5:30 pm: La Machine à écrire. The filmmaker concludes his trilogy on the psychiatric center Paris centre with a more personal and poignant approach to the stories encountered during this incredible journey into the world of madness.
- Saturday, May 30 at 8:00 pm: Return to Normandy. This final film directly resonates with the local history, as Nicolas Philibert revisits the shooting of a film made over thirty years earlier by René Alliot, in which he himself participated as a young assistant.
- Sunday, May 31 at 3:00 pm: Moi Pierre Rivière. The highlight of the weekend. Shot in 1975 with residents of Tinchebray, Flers, and Athis, this unique film features Claude Hébert, present on May 30 and 31 to interact with the audience.
A well-realized affair
René Alliot’s film is inspired by an event that occurred on June 3, 1835. On that day, Pierre Rivière, a young Norman peasant of 20, murdered his mother, sister, and brother before fleeing.
Arrested after several weeks of wandering, he wrote a long autobiographical memoir in prison in which he explained the reasons for his actions: to free his father from the suffering he attributed to his mother.
This text, of great intensity, sparked a profound debate: is Pierre Rivière a lucid criminal or a disturbed mind? Magistrates and psychiatrists would long oppose each other on this issue.
By choosing to have the main roles played by locals from the region, René Alliot signs a work that is both sober, powerful, and deeply rooted in the territory, capturing all the complexity of this human enigma.
Meetings, a living memory
The presence of Nicolas Philibert and Claude Hébert will provide the audience with special moments of exchange.
Testimonials from former participants in the filming could also enrich these moments, extending the connection between cinema and local memory.
In advance, an exhibition will be offered at the media library of Tinchebray from May 15 (date to be confirmed) to better understand the context of the film and its historical significance.
The momentum continues towards 2027
Beyond this exceptional weekend, the cinema association Le Normandy aims to establish its action over time.
A project is already in the works for 2027, on the occasion of the bicentenary of photography. The team is considering a program combining film screenings and photographic exhibitions, to intersect perspectives between still images and moving images.
Still under construction, this initiative signals a strong desire to make Normandy a vibrant cultural space, open to the history of visual arts and accessible to all audiences.
To facilitate the continuity of the screenings, a food truck will be present in the town square.
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