a year 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 a section Competitive selection Out of competition Fipatel a category Drama Series and Serials Creative Documentaries Reportage and Current Affairs Performing Arts Short Programs

At first glance, the art of the "Douanier" Rousseau seems naive, even simplistic. Yet when you stand in front of his paintings, the canvas reverberates with a keen, powerful emotion, the result of the artist's astounding sensibility. Born into a family of humble means, Henri Rousseau was obliged to pursue a career other than the one to which he was inclined. He was already 41 when he made his artistic debut. Self-taught, he had the greatest difficulties in gaining recognition for his work, despite the support of the great poets and artists such as Apollinaire, Picasso and Alfred Jarry. Defining his artistic mission as one of harmony and freedom, Rousseau used his paintings to express a message of love and brotherhood. He was a creator of utopias, where jungles, Chinese lanterns and the gaiety of the world provide the backdrops. His life and work unfold in a theatre of childhood, a spectacle of carnivals and puppets. Thus the film metaphorically plays with certain scenes of the puppet theatre; the paintings of Douanier Rousseau find their expression here as moving vestiges he bequeathed to a humanity in which he had faith.

France - 2001 - 26 mn - Betacam Digital - Colour

Réalisation Jean-Denis Bonan Image Jean-Claude Ducoret, Jean-Denis Bonan Son Patrick Sigwalt Montage Ermanno Corrado Musique Jean-Michel Bellaïche

Production Lapsus, 29, rue Lucien Sampaix, 75010 Paris, France Tél : +33 (0)1 4249 1476 Fax : +33 (0)1 4249 1479 E-mail : lapsus@lapsus.fr Co-Production France 5, Réunion des Musées Nationaux

Ventes Doc & Co, 13, rue Portefoin, 75003 Paris, France Tél : +33 (0)1 4277 5687 Fax : +33 (0)1 4277 3656 E-mail : doc@doc-co.com