Since 2002 Philippe Rouy has been making films ranging from documentaries to art videos. His documentary trilogy on the Fukushima nuclear accident – 4 Bâtiments, Face à la Mer (2012), Machine to Machine (2013) and Fovea Centralis (2014) – incorporates images produced by the Japanese nuclear industry. It has been screened at numerous festivals, including FIDMarseille, Cinéma du Réel (Paris), Torino Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival and FICUNAM (Mexico City). Since then, Rouy’s film work has focused primarily on Japan.
Philippe Rouy
Film / video
Jan. Dec. 2021
Presentation
Project
ARCHIPEL, 6852
Philippe Rouy’s project revolved around the Ukishima Collective: a group of Japanese filmmakers that formed immediately after the Fukushima nuclear accident, with the remarkable mission of filming all 6,852 islands of the Japanese archipelago before more potential nuclear accidents rendered the country uninhabitable. However, after three years of intense activity, in 2014 the Ukishima Collective disappeared, leaving little trace of its existence. Rouy’s multi-dimensional film project, Archipel, 6852, set out to retrace the story of this semi-clandestine collective and, at least partially, carry on its mission. Rouy asks how a film might capture a landscape, with all its beauty and hovering tensions, before it disappears from view once and for all.
