Cast: Cecile de France & Eric de Staercke DOP: Yves Cape Editor: Anne-Laure Guegan Production: EZECHIEL 47-9 FILMS Belgium 15min23sec First release: 2000 CREW Sound designers: Alain L'Helgoual'ch, Yves Ruellot Set designers: Marc-Philippe Guerig, Emmanuelle Batz Digital effects: Gilles Bissot (LBO) Mixing: Franco Piscopo Assistant to the director: Jerome Lemaire Director: Emmanuel Jespers Story & Screenplay: Emmanuel Jespers CAST Laurie: Cecile de France Nick: Eric de Staercke Barney: Quentin Milo Little Child: Jerry Besem Doctor: Bruno Georis [img:_images_DernierReve/death-at-worklow.jpg]

SYNOPSIS

Struck down by a heart attack, a cinema projectionnist is rushed to the hospital. Suddenly the film-material itself jolts and breaks in half, taking the viewer into a much more disturbing reality. A rollercoaster ride on the rickety tracks of life and death.

AWARDS

- BEST DRAMA. L.A. Short Fest (USA 2000) - SELECTED FOR OSCAR CONSIDERATION. L.A. Short Fest (USA 2000) - GOLD AWARD: BEST SHORT / LIVE ACTION. WORLDFEST - Worldfest Houston (USA 2001) - GOLD SPECIAL JURY AWARD. Worldfest Houston (USA 2001) - «PANAVISION» AWARD. Worldfest Houston (USA 2001) - SHINE AWARD : BEST SHORT FILM. Bradford International Film Festival (UK 2001) - BEST INDEPENDENT SHORT. Manchester Int. Fantasy Film Festival (UK 2000) - BEST DIRECTION. Brussels Int. Independent Film festival (BELGIUM 2000) - «ATOMFILMS » AUDIENCE AWARD. Bristol Brief Encounters Film Festival (UK 2000) - PANAVISION AWARD. Avignon Int Film Festival (FRANCE 2001) - BEST PICTURE AWARD. Avignon Int Film Festival (FRANCE 2001) - BEST PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD. Capalbio Int Film Festival (ITALY 2001 - BEST SHORT FILM. Oscarino 2001, Bergamo (ITALY 2001) - BEST SCREENPLAY. Oscarino 2001, Bergamo (ITALY 2001) - BEST EDITING. Oscarino 2001, Bergamo (ITALY 2001) - BEST SHORT FILM. Brussels Short Film Festival “Oh Ce Court” (BELGIUM 2000) - BEST ACTRESS (Cécile de France). Brussels Short Film Festival “Oh Ce Court” (BELGIUM 2000) - AUDIENCE AWARD. Brussels Int Film Festival (BELGIUM 2000) - BEST PICTURE. Brussels Int Film Festival (BELGIUM 2000) - FRENCH COMMUNITY AWARD. Brussels Int Film Festival (BELGIUM 2000) - BEST PICTURE. Media 10/10 Film Festival (BELGIUM 2000) - “TELECINEMA” BEST SHORT FILM AWARD. Media 10/10 Film Festival (BELGIUM 2000) - BRONZE PALM. Huy Film Festival (BELGIUM 2000) - “SABAM” AWARD. Brussels Int. Independent Film festival (BELGIUM 2000) OTHER OFFICIAL SELECTIONS IN COMPETITION: Cannes-39th International Critics Week (France), Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival (Canada) Montreal Festival Des Films Du Monde (Canada), Short Cuts Cologne (Germany) San Sebastian Horror & Fantasy Film Festival (Spain) 45th Murphy Cork Film Festival (Ireland) Interfilm Berlin (Germany) Festival Du Film De Villeurbanne (France) Fantastic Arts / Festival Du Film De Gerardmer (France) Festival International Du Film Fantastique De Bruxelles (Belgium) Festival De Cine De Huesca (Spain) Saarlorlux Film Festival (Luxembourg) Montecatini Film Festival (Italy) Uppsalla Film Festival(Sweden) Molodist Film Festival (Ukraine) Leeds Film Festival (Uk) Kino Film Festival (Uk) Siena Film Festival (Italy) [img:_images_DernierReve/Laurielow.jpg]

INTERVIEW PUBLISHED MAY 2000 ON THE CINERGIE WEBSITE

http://www.cinergie.be THE LAST DREAM By Jean-Michel Vlaeminckx The Last Dream sails or rather floats between dream and reality, and you are never really sure which is one and which is the other. A projectionist is handling a reel of film and the film breaks. He tries in vain to stick the two pieces back together. The picture comes to a halt in the same way as his life does; it vanishes just as the relationship he could have had with Laurie dissolves. A flash of a child, angel of death, in the manner of Marc Behm, and the mist of a hiatus between life and death slowly spreads its net. It is clear that this multi-track film will tell its story in a roundabout way, with as a premium, a love story that unfolds off camera in the rear-view mirror of our imaginatio n. The 15 minutes, which seem like just three, or like 90 condensed down, are like a metaphor on the dissecting table of metonymy (to parody Lautréamont). [img:_images_DernierReve/Nicklow.jpg] Interview with Emmanuel Jespers, director of the film. Cinergie: The Last Dream involves a lot of toing and froing between life and death. You blur the picture so to speak. How did this unusual structure of the film come about? Emmanuel Jespers: You’re right in saying I blur the picture, and confuse the audience. I toy with their credulity, but I always make sure I don’t lose them altogether. And in the end, what at first appears complex “almost”becomes trivial. It’s the story of a guy who takes the ultimate step towards death, but who doesn’t immediately realize it, just like the audience. I think the day I die I will also have this feeling that I’m not really dying. There will certainly be confusion and I’ll certainly not experience reality in the same way as the doctors. C.: It’ s also an experiment with time, the way it can seem to slow down or speed up. E.J.: This question of the reality of things I think stems from what happened to me when I was very young. I often used to faint in the Yugoslav orthodox churches I used to visit with my parents during the holidays -oxygen is scarce in those places because of the incense and the singing. I had problems breathing and had black-outs. When I came round again I didn’t know where I was or who I was and I didn’t recognize my parents straight away. Everything was different and I had this feeling that time was moving horribly slowly. This difference in the perception of reality has always fascinated me. With The Last Dream I have tried to let the audience share in this feeling of disarray. So I had to devise narrative mechanisms that would lose them first and then allow them to catch up again at the end. [img:_images_DernierReve/at-the-hospitallow.jpg] C.: There is a narrative suspense in the style of Brian De Palma; you think the first flash is a heart attack and then you think it was only a dream, and so on. E.J.: That’s right, the audience is repeatedly led up the garden path. It’s quite intentional. Brian De Palma is not the only one who does that. Hitchcock does the same. These directors question reality, like Antonioni as well for that matter. Films like Profession Reporter, Blow-Up, Vertigo, Blow out and Fenêtre sur Cour all tell a story and at the same time they casually give you a lesson in film-making. That’s the wonderful thing. C.: What do you feel film-making is all about? E.J.: I’m always very wary that the visual does not precede the script. The images must stem from the script; the script has to generate the images. As far as I’m concerned the base material in film-making is first the narrative, then the image. And that makes me feel very optimistic for the film industry, because as long as there are stories, there will be films. [img:_images_DernierReve/Barneylow.jpg] C.: In The Last Dream Nick is a projectionist, which means he dispenses the dream, he projects make-believe whilst being caught up in someone else’s imagination. E.J.: That’s something I didn’t think about. It came to me just like that. The story came before the character’s job. With the story-line as it was relating to breaking film it seemed logical that the action should take place in a cinema, and then of course that dictates the characters. C.: It is of course also and maybe above all a love story. E.J.: Yes. And that came as quite a surprise really. You work on a story, you write it, you tell it over and over to the team, you direct it and then suddenly you find that the secondary story-lines, which at first appear quite insignificant, like the relationship between Nick and Laurie, become very important in the end. When the film was finished I had a real shock to discover that although their relationship unfolds off-camera it actually encompasses the emotion of the film. You could say that their love could have developed into something, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I’ve been thinking about that since I finished the film. That’s the great thing about being the scriptwriter and the director. You get some free therapy whilst you’re at it. [img:_images_DernierReve/the-last-dreamlow.jpg] C.: The structure of the film is as precise as the works of a watch. E.J.: Not only the structure. There’s a proverb that says “God lies in the detail”. I had that on my computer the whole time I was writing the script for The Last Dream. I think everything in a film is important. As far as I’m concerned every film is a miniature version of the world. You start from nothing and you create a personal view of the world. Of course I needed more than seven days. But it’s a powerful experience. C.: You said you spent a great deal of time on this project. E.J.: Yes, probably too much. But it was an irresistible challenge. The script allowed to experiment in different ways and that fired all the imaginations. People like Yves Cape the cinematographer, Alain L’Helgoual’ch, the sound-designer, Anne-Laure Guégan the editor and many others worked really hard on this film, Alain L’Helgoual’ch and Yves Ruellot worked on the atmospheric sound for weeks and at the end they were popping vitamin C at three in the morning and looking really pale. Marc-Phillipe Guérig and his team went all out to put up the scenery during the night in sordid car parks. A total of 100 people worked in the making of this film. [img:_images_DernierReve/a-gate-to-deathlow.jpg] I’ve come to realize that when you give your all to a project, almost at the risk of losing everything that is near and dear to you, chances are people will listen to you. That’s the great thing about the Western world. It’s all about commitment. You can succeed with highly personal ideas provided you share them and fight for them. Maybe because anything that is truly your personal fight merges with the universal. This is why I like Kubrick. In his films he tried to impose an intimate, singular and coherent vision and succeeded in catching the interest of the entire world. I like that about him, this need of his to make films that are free whilst at the same time worrying about the audience, if only to be able to continue to make films. To be able to reconcile your expectations as a director with the taste of the audience, and the neccessities of production, I think is a remarkable achievement. I love all his films, including Eyes Wide Shut. I was very moved by the end of the film, which everyone else hates and which I think is quite right. By Jean-Michel Vlaeminckx Cinergie asbl Website: http://www.cinergie.be [img:_images_DernierReve/dreaming.Laurielow.jpg]