For her Master’s thesis on documentary filmmaking at Lussas, the filmmaker Maïlys Audouze chose to revisit an impactful fragment of her father’s previous life as a delinquent.

While the detached dialogue between father and daughter tells the story of a violent and lonely childhood, the film takes a sudden turn when the director decides to reveal a previously unknown element of his past to her subject.

With one intimate and spontaneous gesture, Maïlys Audouze seals a film that tells a deeply rich story of how words can free us from old pain. By organizing a trip back to prison for her father and a meeting with one of his former tormenters, the filmmaker succeeds in bringing the still-distant viewers into the story and creating, with fairness and sensitivity, a shared sense of existence with them.

Terence Chotard
Filmmaker