Watching The Pain of Others
Digital video, 31 minutes, French and English language (subtitles available), 2018
Watching the Pain of Others, a personal essay film by filmmaker Chloé Galibert-Laîné, [… is] one of the best films ever made about watching a documentary.
David Schwartz (Chief Curator at the Museum of the Moving Image)
A masterful video that sets a new standard for how video essays can explore spectatorship.
Jason Mittell (Professor of Film & Media Culture at Middlebury College)
An inspired, affective and intellectually stimulating personal voyage of discovery into the lives (and pain) of others, making brilliant use of the affordances of the desktop documentary form.
Ariel Avissar (Lecturer at Tel Aviv University)
A brave and insightful exploration of internet intersubjectivity, especially that of women.
Allison de Fren (Associate Professor in Media Arts & Culture at the Occidental College in Los Angeles)
Synopsis:
In this deeply personal video diary, a young researcher tries to make sense of her fascination for the film "The Pain of Others" by Penny Lane. A deep dive into the discomforting world of YouTube and online conspiracies, that challenges traditional notions of what documentary cinema is, or should be.
This film screened at 40+ international film festivals including the Moscow International Film Festival (RU), Images Festival (CA), transmediale (DE), Entrevues Belfort (FR), EMAF (DE) and the Kasseler Dokfest (DE).
Awards:
First Prize in the Video Essay Competition at the Adelio Ferrero Festival 2019 (IT)
Professional Jury Award at Corsica.doc 2019 (FR)
3*Night Award at the Festival Signs of Night 2020 (Portugal, Bangkok and Germany editions)
Special Mention in the Documentary competition at the French edition of the Festival Signs of the Night 2020 (FR)
Special Mention for Unconventional Storytelling at the Cheap Cuts Documentary Film Festival 2020 (UK)
Best Film Award (in the International Competition) at the Beijing International Short Film Festival 2020 (CN)
It was the most cited video in Sight and Sound's poll of the Best Video Essays of 2019, and published with an artist statement on the peer-reviewed journal [in]Transition.
Interviews and talks in English about the making of the film:
Talk at the Merz Akadmie Stuttgart (Germany), followed by a discussion with filmmaker Charlie Shackleton
Interview by Dan Schindel for Hyperallergic
Interview byJosé Sarmiento Hinojosa for desistfilm
Interview by Will DiGravio for the Video Essay Podcast
Q&A moderated by Vardit Gross at the Artport Festival
and in French :
Interview by Maylis Besserie for France Culture
Masterclass with Gabrielle Stemmer at the Ecole des Beaux-arts de Belfort
Panel with Jean-Marc Chapoulie, Guillaume Lillo and Éléonore Weber, moderated by Jean-Sébastien Chauvin at the Festival de Belfort 2020
This film was produced in the context of my doctoral research project conducted in the art-research program SACRe (Ecole normale supérieure de Paris / PSL University) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Dork Zabunyan (Université Paris 8) and Prof. Dr. Antoine de Baecque (ENS de Paris).
English and French subtitles available (via the CC button in the bottom right corner of the player).