MEZIPATRA: Des garçons de province

Le film sera suivi d'une discussion

The film screenings will be followed by a discussion

Employé de boîte de nuit, Youcef s’éprend du danseur d’une troupe queer en tournée estivale. Ailleurs, un jeune homme juché sur de hauts talons traverse le village qu’il s’apprête à quitter. Dans un bourg isolé, Jonas a rendez-vous pour des photos érotiques avec un inconnu. Il y a celui qui reste, celui qui part, et celui qui passe. Ce sont des garçons de province.

Gay life in the countryside differs from the metropolitan one in many ways. A trio of small French towns tells three stories that prove this point. A group of drag performers come to perform at a bar in Vendeuvre-sur-Barse. They find help from a local gay couple – and one of them, Youcef, is unexpectedly smitten by the group. In the town of La Chapelle Saint-Mesmin, a teenager wakes up
after a wild night. He checks out his phone and sees a message from a boy who is inviting him over to his home. All he needs to do is put on his high heels and march towards his goal. The final story takes place in Hermoy in the home of Mathieu the photographer who has invited the younger Jonas to photograph nudes. When Jonas arrives, he is surprised it hasn’t been an excuse for sex. With a calm and focused hand, Gäel Lépingle offers us a drama of short stories about men who are, literally as well as figuratively, at a crossroads.

Gaël Lépingle

Tout au long de sa carrière, le cinéaste français Gaël Lépingle a oscillé entre le documentaire et le long métrage, comme en témoignent ses deux distinctions obtenues à l'occasion du festival FID Marseilles. Tout d'abord avec son documentaire Julien (2010), puis une seconde fois avec son long métrage Le Temps des Pirates (2018). Des Garçons de province (2022) est à la rencontre de ces deux genres alors qu'il dépeint l'histoire de trois protagonistes homosexuels en province. 

Throughout his whole career, the French filmmaker Gaël Lépingle has been switching between documentary and feature film, as illustrated by his films’ victories at the FID competition in Marseilles: first with his documentary Julien (2010), and second time with his feature The Time of the Pirates (2018). Smalltown Boys (2022), a short stories drama depicting three everyday tales of gay protagonists, intertwines these aspects into one.