The 20th Century is the Century of the photograph. For the first time in History, ordinary people have been able to keep souvenirs of their lives. Around the world, millions of amateur photographers have, without realizing it, chronicled their time, allowing us to highlight littleknown events or to offer an unusual perspective of periods we think we know.
From Paris in the 1930s to the Congo in the 1960s, this documentary will examine the stories of men and women who witnessed our History, through their personal and intimate memories. Their images are much more revealing about the reality of history than “official” archives, showing the subjective, the lived-in, and the emotional. The people who took these pictures aren’t all still around today to talk about them. Exploring these photos will tell the story of the 20th Century on a human scale.
Based on these these photographs, by analyzing them from a critical, historic approach, we have decided to extrapolate, to imagine their lives, their feelings, and even let them speak. By exploring where reality meets fiction, we want to give life back to these “ordinary” heroes, to get close to them, and turn these unknown people into our contemporaries.
Direction: Jérôme Lambert, Philippe Picard, Jean-Thomas Ceccaldi, Lucie Cariès, Delphine Deloget, Jean-Marie Barrère & Agnès Poirier
Production: Bonne Compagnie & ECPAD for ARTE France