The forest of souls
Mathilde is a young accoustician. Fascinated by the power of sounds, she wants to invent a new way of travelling through time and find the souls of the departed…
After some years in front of the camera, as a film reviewer for French TV channel “Canal plus”, Pierre decided it was time for images to replace words and that the bravest move should be to stay behind the camera. He has directed shorts like “The dolphin skin city” or “Apocalypse notes” which try to portray human beings confronted to unexpected challenges. He teaches cinema at the Efap school in Paris and currently works on his first feature film.
I had read, many years ago, an interview with musician Peter Gabriel where he mentioned the tree he would love to be buried under, and its preference for a simple burial there. And I also remember that he mentioned the power of trees in recovery. So I think it started a spark in my mind, but at the time I read the article I couldn’t imagine I’ll make a film about that.
The forest of souls had me on the brink for a few weeks before taking the decision of directing it. I wanted to cope with death as it seems that cinema is “great” in showing murders but very poor in describing grief, or the process of grieving. Trees have been a recurring theme throughout my work, ever since my first short “A woman and a juke=box” where a woman finds a record single in the trunk of an oak.
But with “The forest of souls”, I wanted to go beyond the trend of talking about the power of trees and their inner communication in a forest. Of course, I truly believe in that, and many books have been written about those extraordinary things. But for me it was not enough as it’s more about contemplation than action. And I wanted to show a character (Mathilde, the young acoustician) who is able to combine nature and technology. My film is not “The tree of life”, it’s more “The tree of invention_”
I’m often puzzled (in a good way) by the audiences’s reaction whenever the film is screened somewhere. People ask me : “This is really a great idea (the cemetary of sounds) and it’ll be available soon!”. So in a way, the film has reached its purpose, its aim: transforming a supposed student invention in what could become a worldwide habit : listening to the dead.