The cinematographer Antoine Plouzen Morvan introduced the Franco-Mexican film My Benjamin, which is part of the Documentary Film Competition of the 48th Moscow International Film Festival.
The director Victoria Clay Mendoza spent an entire year accompanying Benjamin Pech, a principal dancer of the Paris Opera, and making a documentary about him. The two became friends. Each of the characters has difficult life circumstances: she needs to return to Mexico to care for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s, and he injured his, which put an end to his stage career. This is a visual essay about accepting what is coming to an end.
Antoine Plouzen Morvan: "The director of the film, Victoria, met Benjamin in 2014–2015, that is, a year before he ended his career. They were on friendly terms from the start and agreed that Benjamin would help Victoria get into the Paris Opera so she could accompany him almost every day. Victoria was actually with him the whole time and shot most of the footage herself; I only participated in specific scenes. It was the filmmaker and the character's joint decision to show in the film everything related to his hip injury and how he came to the decision to avoid surgery but to continue dancing with the injury until the very end, until he leaves the stage".
The director Victoria Clay Mendoza spent an entire year accompanying Benjamin Pech, a principal dancer of the Paris Opera, and making a documentary about him. The two became friends. Each of the characters has difficult life circumstances: she needs to return to Mexico to care for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s, and he injured his, which put an end to his stage career. This is a visual essay about accepting what is coming to an end.
Antoine Plouzen Morvan: "The director of the film, Victoria, met Benjamin in 2014–2015, that is, a year before he ended his career. They were on friendly terms from the start and agreed that Benjamin would help Victoria get into the Paris Opera so she could accompany him almost every day. Victoria was actually with him the whole time and shot most of the footage herself; I only participated in specific scenes. It was the filmmaker and the character's joint decision to show in the film everything related to his hip injury and how he came to the decision to avoid surgery but to continue dancing with the injury until the very end, until he leaves the stage".