An Archipelago of Cinemas

Île Courts Festival is alive, teeming with life!
Since its inception in 2007, its founders have set down the necessary bases for the development, renewal and transmission of the vibrant energy surrounding this unique project. Little by little, the Festival’s toolkit has brought to fruition all of its goals that span the whole range of filmmaking, with the sole aim of contributing, in its own way, to the renaissance or even birth of Indian Ocean cinemas. Today, it is the great goal of the project An Archipelago of Cinemas, beneficiary of the ACPCultures+ programme from 2014 to 2016, to give Porteurs d’Images the opportunity to turn the Festival into a durable event of the Mauritian cultural calendar and to regionalize its work through the Forum Film Bazar, This will be done by strengthening its Indianoceanic ties with its partner festivals and associates, which are the FIFAI-Festival du Film d’Afrique et des Îles (Reunion Island), the CIFF-Comoros International Film Festival (Comoros) and the RFC-Rencontres du Film Court (Madagascar).

In 2014, the Île Courts Festival unfolds the screen of its 7 th edition.
A real little film factory, the Île Courts Festival compiles year after year a collection of its films. Since 2008, 28 short films have been created thanks to the programme FILM FABRIK.
Following a well-established tradition, it’s the 2014 collection that opens the Festival in the movie theatre of Bagatelle, which bears witness to the dynamism of cinematographic creation in Mauritius.

Always driven by curiosity, Île Courts Festival goes to the search of the soul of well-known places that are rich with history, with memories and invests itself in them.
★ It’s in the heart of the capital that Île Courts drops its anchor this year.
La rue du Vieux Conseil, c’est le point de rendez-vous du Festival en journée.
Vieux Conseil Street is the Festival’s rendez-vous spot during the day. Right at the Café du Vieux Conseil is our welcome desk and all of our festival-goers sharing lunch and listening to the Soundtracks, sharing a musical moment before it is time to head for the afternoon’s and evening’s screenings.
At the Malcolm de Chazal Foundation, the professionals of Indianoceanic cinema have a rendez-vous for the 1st edition of the Forum Film Bazar.
Climbing upstairs, one can come across the art installation Échos Écran.
★ In a Ward4 infused with nostalgia, at the turn of Saint Georges Street, a short-lived film school opens its doors for a week. In programme, a masterclass held by a leading figure of Indian independent cinema, Anurag Kashyap, in addition to the professional workshops which characterize the Festival since its early beginnings. This year, we put a special focus on scriptwriting (for fiction and animated films), technical skills and direction.
★ But Île Courts, remains an invitation to travel. And the itinary has only just started!
From the Champ de Mars to the Point Canon Open Air Theatre, from the beach of Tamarin to the village of Chemin Grenier, it’s under the starlight of our own towns and countryside that the Festival offers a unique experience of cinema, an encounter with an exciting selection of previously-unseen short films from Mauritius, the Indian Ocean and the rest of the world. Everyday, in Rose-Hill, screenings for a young audience open a window on a different cinema to our children.
As a little change doesn’t hurt anyone, the feature-length documentary Ady Gadsy forays into the programme with a screening at L’Atelier littéraire in Port-Louis. And as cherry on the cake, Île Courts offers us for the very first time, a screening of a short 3D film at the Bagatelle movie theatre.

More than ever, we wish to give our thanks to our audiences, our distinguished guests, our directors, teams, the association, our partners, financial sponsors, all these energies, talents, enthusiastic spirits and concerted efforts which made it possible for the Festival to hold its 7th edition this year!

Have a great festival, everyone!

Elise Mignot
for the Île Courts team
Porteurs d’Images Association