RIGA IFF: Īsfilmu antoloģija ''Parīzes sešinieks''
Anthology of shorts Six in Paris
Even if the beginning of the French New Wave and its first film has been much disputed, there has never been any doubt about the filmmakers who set out on their career paths in the late 1950s and early 1960s being contemporaries and kindred spirits They directed, edited, wrote scripts together; they watched each other’s work and played minor roles in each other's films.
In the 1965 short-film anthology Six in Paris, six very different authors meet – the pioneer Jean-Luc Godard, the baguette‑gangster‑film virtuoso Claude Chabrol, the documentary maestro Jean Rusch; the prosaic philosopher Éric Rohmer, and others – guiding us through the people, places and things of Paris. A quintessential collection of shorts, this selection won’t induce the so‑called Paris syndrome – disappointment in the commercialised romanticisation of the metropolis –, but it doesn't shy away from its mythology either.
The concept of the anthology is simple – six miniatures capturing the insights of six contemporaries in six urban locations – and, through today’s eyes, it is a unique record of New Wave energy, defiance and invention. It vibrates, it makes you laugh on various decibel levels, and it invites you to see the city as a canvas, a fount, or a point of psychogeography.
Jean Douchet
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
FR
1965, 19’, fr
Age 12+
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
FR
1965, 19’, fr
Age 12+
The 6th arrondissement of Paris, where students, artists, intellectuals, those seeking meaning, those lost and those guided by tourist intent converge. An American student is enamoured with a local dandy, hoping for love to wash over them. Her illusions meet reality, as her paths take her through the city.
Coming from the legendary film publication Cahiers du Cinéma, which at the time had revolutionised film criticism for over a decade, Douchet misleads the viewer with Seine‑bank iconography, tempting us to expect a typical fin heureuse. In this sitcom‑like piece, digressions typical to American cinema exaggerate the witty premise to a fizzing finale.
Jean Rusch
Gare du Nord
Gare du Nord
FR
1965, 17’, fr
Age 12+
The 10th arrondissement, the city’s transport artery. An overboiled egg for breakfast in a tiny kitchen. The apartment window frames a shifting Paris, the eye horizon drawing ever narrower. A couple begins their day with unresolved resentments and simmering irritations. The day unfolds, and Odile meets a stranger on the street who’s ready to do anything for her.
Rouch’s best known work is the emblem of cinéma vérité – Chronicle of a Summer (1961), a documentary stroll-about, directed with sociologist Edgar Morin. Perhaps to some the opening frames, shot on 16 mm, will be reminiscent of the Latvian documentary and fiction fusion Apple in the River (1974) by Freimanis, but the film soon expands the myth of fantasy to such a degree that stepping outside becomes an existential choice: reality or fantasy?
Jean-Daniel Pollet
Saint Denis Street
Rue Saint-Denis
FR
1965, 12’, fr
Age 12+
One of the oldest streets in Paris, winding through the 1st arrondissement. A lone, haggard dishwasher hires a prostitute with a golden heart. He escorts her to his humble abode, and the pair indulge in dinner‑table conversation. Gradually, they begin to mimic the dynamic of a married couple – and the night isn’t even over yet.
Filmmaker‑screenwriter Pollet brings together a Montmartre beauty (played by the legendary Micheline Dax) and a Buster Keaton‑esque blue collar hero (with aquariums for eyes, Claude Melki), creating a tribute to early comedy film and character types meeting in a smoke-filled dive bar to catch up on the evening’s headlines before bed.
Éric Rohmer
Place Charles de Gaulle
Place de l'Etoile
FR
1965, 17’, fr
Age 12+
A junction of twelve boulevards and the foot of Champs‑Élysées. A haberdashery clerk walks to the metro each morning, and has to pick a shortcut every time. A stranger cuts into his routine, and the elegant gentleman exacts fatal vengeance.
Called the moralist of French cinema, Rohmer surprises threefold in this humorous sketch. Firstly, with the documentary, vital shots of Paris and ethnographic nuance. Secondly, with the possibility that perhaps Friedkin saw this before making his The French Connection (1971). Thirdly, with comedic gags uncharacteristic of Rohmer that could just as easily be done by his contemporary Tati.
Jean Luc Godard
Montparnasse-Levallois
Montparnasse-Levallois
FR
1965, 15’, fr
Age 12+
Anxiety, as we visit two addresses in the 14th arrondissement and north‑west Paris. Monica has two lovers, and she has sent a letter to each of them. She thinks she swapped their letters, so she tries to outpace time by visiting both.
One of the New Wave pioneers, Swiss French Godard has adapted a short story by Jean Giraud, with American documentary‑film legend Albert Maysles behind the camera. Godard later reused this same love trouble anecdote in the feature A Woman Is a Woman (1961), in which Jean‑Paul Belmondo had to retell it. It is said Godard made this short after his breakup with actress Anna Karina.
Claude Chabrol
La Muette
La Muette
FR
1965, 16’, fr
Age 12+
A pocket of the 16th arrondissement, a residential district. A young boy, lacking for nothing, cannot bear his parents’ fighting. One day, he goes to get ear‑plugs, unaware that a tragedy is unfolding in the mansion – one he’ll never hear…
Chabrol is the master of the crime genre, often dubbed the French Hitchcock. He carefully hides his sardonic humour from his viewer – possibly behind his black sunglasses. In this short he has taken them off, and plays a quarrelling couple alongside his wife Stéphane Audran. In his typical critique of bourgeois lifestyles, this short features perhaps one of the strangest death scenes ever filmed.
| Event | Date / Time | Venue | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RIGA IFF: Īsfilmu antoloģija ''Parīzes sešinieks'' | Mo 20/10/2025 18:00 | Kino Splendid Palace, MAZĀ ZĀLE | 7.00 - 8.00 |
| Event | RIGA IFF: Īsfilmu antoloģija ''Parīzes sešinieks'' |
|---|---|
| Date / Time | Mo 20/10/2025 18:00 |
| Venue | Kino Splendid Palace, MAZĀ ZĀLE |
| Price | 7.00 - 8.00 |
| Event | RIGA IFF: Īsfilmu antoloģija ''Parīzes sešinieks'' |
|---|---|
| Date / Time | Mo 20/10/2025 18:00 |
| Venue | Kino Splendid Palace, MAZĀ ZĀLE |
| Price | 7.00 - 8.00 |
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