L'Étrange Festival - XXVIIIth edition - September 6 to 18, 2022

Vous êtes au Village

Created in 1989 by Charles Petit (former artistic director of Métal Hurlant), Marc Bruckert (former artistic director of Création Magazine) and Martine Jamaux (illustrator's agent), joined by friends Benoît Delépine (before his Guignol and Groland adventures) and Christophe Salengro (future “undiable” president of Groland, but already a hyperbolic dancer with Philippe Découflé), Le Village, Production and Design, got its name from the famous setting of the series The Prisoner. Le Village rapidly produces episodes of L’Œil du Cyclone for Canal+, visual identity for Tv channels (Arte, Canal+) or short films. Also very quickly, young directors (often later becoming feature film directors) pass the doors of this “unsubsidized laboratory for visual experimentation applied to commercial art”, (Charles Petit in letempsdetruittout.net, April 2004), to direct music videos when record companies allowed real creative freedom. The very underground Pascal Baes, king of long exposures, will even direct ads with Le Village for Schweppes or New York’s Paramount Hotel. In 1997 Le Village naturally connects with L’Étrange Festival, taking charge of its graphic design. Simultaneously, the encounter with Professeur Choron will give birth to a long collaboration: layout designing for the monthly Grodada, an Œil du Cyclone, a series of ten short films Y’a rien d’pire que l’ignorance (There’s Nothing Worse Than Ignorance), an improbable Christmas record as a duo with Charlie Oleg, and a grand finale in 1999 with the autobiographical operetta Ivre-mort pour la Patrie (Dead Drunk for my Country), directed by Vincent Hachet, with music by Bertrand Burgalat and sets by Vuillemin. Le Village ceased to exist in 2004, Charles Petit going on to produce elsewhere. Charles passed away in February 2022. This copious program is dedicated to him, and to the directors who crossed his path. Welcome to Le Village.