Chiaroscuro
A 30 year old women faces a life that does not reflect the societal ideals.
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Marion AzaïsDirector
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Sirena LazarusDirector
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Marion AzaïsWriter
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Sirena LazarusWriter
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Marion AzaïsProducer
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Sirena LazarusProducer
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Sirena LazarusKey Cast"Evelyne Risain"
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LighthouseOriginal Music
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Marion AzaïsCamera
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Project Title (Original Language):Clair Obscur
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Project Type:Short
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Runtime:5 minutes 43 seconds
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Completion Date:December 21, 2017
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Production Budget:50 EUR
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Country of Origin:France
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Country of Filming:France
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Language:French
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Black & White
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
Sirena Lazarus and Marion Azaïs were born in 1988. They met during their studies. They decided to quit their conventional jobs to focus on their artistic careers in 2016.
They produced and filmed their first short film "Chiaroscuro" in 2017.
It was a no budget project and took 2 days of shooting.
With 3 scripts for short and feature films ready, Marion and Sirena are currently setting up their next project, which should be filmed in September 2018.
Chiaroscuro tells the story of Evelyne Risain, a lost woman.
She cannot seem to find her place in the society. She cannot seem to understand and comply to its rigid standards. Despite following the rules and not making waves her whole life, she finds herself unhappy and unfulfilled. Despite herself, she embodies the counterexample of the societal ideals. And everything around her is a painful reminder of this reality.
Because in every society, you are either in or out. You either succeed or you are a failure.
Everything is either good or bad. Everything is just black or white. There is no space for something else that what the society standards dictate. And there is no space for any shade of grey.
The character, Evelyne Risain, is a representation of how the Directors of Chiaroscuro have been feeling. She understands this black and white society does not work for her. She is in the grey. But she is not allowed to.
Chiaroscuro is the representation of how so many people have been feeling throughout the decades. People who just want to find their own path, at their own pace, instead of blindly following the one path that is supposed to be good and keeping on rushing to do everything faster and faster for no reason. However, it does not aim to be universal, as it focuses on the specific story of one character.
Chiaroscuro was shot in black and white to reflect the fact that the life and issues Evelyne experiences are global and timeless.
It is also a mirror of the duality of the society where everything is black and white (success/ failure, good/ bad, authorised/ forbidden…).
Chiaroscuro displays large and very close-up shots to show the state of mind of the character. She is aiming for more, she wants to realize her dreams but they are so out of reach. And at the same time, she feels claustrophobic in this oppressive life she has not chosen, and she feels stuck because everything seems locked and she does not know how to get herself out of this life.