The "filmeurs" Joseph Morder and Alain Cavalier. Filmic gesture of relinquishment and epistemology of no manipulation

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the cinematic practice of the filmeur through two of its top representatives in the French space: Joseph Morder and Alan Cavalier. Its purpose is, therefore, to determine the epistemological approaches and the aesthetic characteristics of this filmic experience developed in solitude, in which the filming becomes a “corporal and aesthetic act” characterised by subjectivity, privacy, immediacy and observation. The analysis of different works belonging to both filmmakers –Lettre de Joseph Morder à Alain Cavalier (2005), Joseph Morder par Alain Cavalier (2006), J’aimerais partager le printemps avec quelqu’un (2007), Le Filmeur (2005) and others– will show how these experiences of reality go beyond the diaristic or autobiographical practices, since the narration is relegated in favour of the present and spontaneous experience of placing oneself “within the act of filming”. These intimate and minimalist practices of a filmic gesture of relinquishment are determined by the evolution of the technology used and its automatisms: in Morder’s case from the super 8mm to the mobile phone and in Cavalier’s through his small digital camera. This filmic experience is defined by an epistemology of no manipulation that becomes transgression of the cinematic orthodoxy.