BAGAR

in progress

director : Clo Zanotti
assistant director : Léontine Nivet
actresses : Emma Naegel & Juliette Chmielarz
director of photography : Flore Wodey
camera assistant : Jade Calipari
scriptwriters : Clémence Thiard & Clo Zanotti
camera operator : Zoé Cornot
chief electrician : Marco Mariani
sound engineer : Solen Chouvet
script supervisor : Sabrina Deliba
scriptwriter : Léa Rouillon & Marine Dolle
stuntwoman : Marine Dolle
chief decorator : Cléo Bullier
decorator : Charlotte Flety & Neve Felix
belt manager : Lidwin Marteau
costume designer : Clémentine Chateau & Blandine Lousteau
SFX make-up artists : Camille Letailleur & Marion Maninchedda
hairdresser : Lou Baptiste
making off : Léa Berdoll
motion designer : Léa Koehlhoeffer
graphic designer : Flore Wodey
editor : Clo Zanotti
sound mixer : Solen Chouvet
musical artist : Agathe Lavarel

BAGAR is a mixed-gender collaborative short film project launched by Clo Zanotti in July 2022. Right from the start, I've been part of the project, putting together the production files and helping to select the team, particularly for the image department, for which I'm the reference person.

BAGAR was born out of a desire to occupy space, both in creation and production, by people other than cis men. BAGAR is a project that's particularly close to our hearts, and we can't wait to think about it and make it happen, so that we can challenge ourselves, offer ourselves new experiences and come out of it feeling great and proud. First of all, we want to make a story about a fight, with a quality short action film at the end. During the creation of BAGAR, we want to see the film evolve thanks to the whole team. So that the pleasure that everyone will feel when seeing the result in pictures is equal to the investment in the project. BAGAR is there to be an additional on-set experience, with a chosen mix of people, allowing everyone to prove themselves, to work as a team and, we hope, to enrich their careers. It's an opportunity to try out new roles that we don't usually have access to.


It's also about creating a story that is rarely, if ever, seen: putting two women in an action scene where there are no superheroes, no sexualization and no tight trousers. We're not trying to stick to the codes that exist in brawler films, or to reverse them, but to create new ones that correspond to our visions and desires. BAGAR is about expressing our anger at the monopolization of the screen and the creation of action films by men. Ultimately, and necessarily, to create an outlet... To catharise the hatred and violence that bubble up inside us but that we can't express in everyday life. To give strength to our sisters. To show them that they have a right to their emotions, that they belong to them and that they can be violent. Talking about rules, even in a fairly secondary way, is a great source of strength. It's legitimate to talk about the pain, the feeling of injustice, the feeling of resenting your body, sometimes even hating it. But this hatred is misplaced, it's directed at our bodies, whereas it's the patriarchal system that shames the rules, that turns them into a marketing argument. Nothing is done for people who menstruate.


Nothing is set up in a way that is fair and understanding for us. Caught between the taboo surrounding the blood, pain and smells of menstruation on the one hand and marketing that is out of touch with reality on the other, often orchestrated by cis-men. In 2021, we saw a major American tech entrepreneur line his pockets by selling "Livia", a device supposed to calm menstrual cramps, for €160. A pink, plastic gadget whose effectiveness has yet to be proven. This was the inspiration for the object that the two characters are fighting over. In BAGAR, the pain of menstruation and the pain of combat will exist in the same space for the characters. The blood from menstruation will be as visible and aesthetic as the blood from the wounds from the fight.