MOBILE ÉTOILE

Synopsis
Hannah, a singer passionate about classical music, directs a choir in Montreal with her husband Daniel, a pianist. They make a living from concerts creating sacred French music, true heritage treasures, composed for the synagogues of France at the end of the 19th century - beginning of the 20th century. But for some time now, they have been struggling to keep their vocal group afloat. And while they recruit Abigail, a fragile and gifted young girl who gives them hope, Hannah's former teacher, Samuel, arrives in Montreal with an old lost score...

Design
The filming of Mobile Étoile took place in 24 days in Montreal, Canada and three days in Bordeaux between November and December 2014. The recording of the seven pieces of music in October 2014 at Studio Piccolo in Montreal.

The music was composed in Paris by Jérôme Lemonnier and the adaptation work by the writer Emmanuel Moses, with the exception of Mobile Étoile by Fernand Halphen (1872-1917), a piece taken from the fifth volume of the Patrimoines musicales collection Jews from France. The other pieces are taken from the liturgical and biblical corpus, with the exception of the Miracle of the Key which is an original creation.

The pieces have been recreated in the spirit of Maurice Ravel, Darius Milhaud, Charles-Valentin Alkan, Fernand Halphen, Gabriel Fauré, Offenbach and Leo Smith. After training for more than six months, Géraldine Pailhas, who learned lyrical singing under the direction of Helma Warrum and the piano, was post-synchronized and dubbed by the singer Natalie Choquette who created a voice especially for the film.

FIRST ****
Shot in Montreal, this film mixes languages and voices, accents and melodies, it shows and hears the passion for a music that is forgotten and doomed to disappear if no one takes hold of it. Under a factual appearance (finding grants, rehearsing, exhuming a score...), Mobile Étoile develops like an aria, gaining momentum over the course of the projection. Filmed in sequence shots and wide frames, the modern urban environment is the ideal setting for these living and stubborn beings.

Distribution
Géraldine Pailhas, Luc Picard, Felicia Shulman, Éléonore Lagacé, Paul Kunigis, Alexandre Sheasby, David Hermann-Dussault, Marcel Sabourin, Dorothée Berryman, Natalie Choquette, Raymond Cloutier

Production
Alexis Dantec, Fred Bellaïche, Anne-Marie Gélinas, Benoît Beaulieu and Julie Paratian

Team
Screenplay: Raphaël Nadjari and Vincent Poymiro
Music: Jérôme Lemonnier
Song lyrics (adaptation and creation): Emmanuel Moses
Photography: Benoît Beaulieu
Decor: Marzia Pellissier and Pierre Moreau