The creation of Les Années Super 8 ultimately involved the assembling of a text written and read by the writer Annie Ernaux, my mother, and the Super 8 films shot by my father, her late ex-husband. But over the eight weeks of editing images, leaving aside the question of narrative, it was the relationship between images and narrative that came up. Evidence, symbol, alternative discourse or embodiment of words: what is the relationship between images and the writer’s narrative? The documentaries promise the viewer the truth and nothing but the truth. Autobiography promises its reader nothing else. How do these two promises manifest themselves in Les Années Super 8? What role do music and sound effects play in realising the construction of a sincere discourse? How does the editing, supported by Annie Ernaux’s narration, inscribe the intimacy of a life in the social and political depth of the 1970s?

biografia

David Ernaux-Briot, son of Annie and Philippe Ernaux, was born in 1968. He grew up in Annecy and later on Cergy-Pontoise. After studying science, he decided to focus on scientific journalism and contributed to specialized TV programs such as E=M6 and C’est pas Sorcier. He wrote and directed the mini-series Théâtre des Machines, Corpus, Art et Sport for the platforms Universcience and CANOPE. The Super 8 Years is his first feature-length documentary.

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