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Sébastien Laudenbach’s ‘Viva Carmen’ Reimagines Bizet’s Opera for Contemporary Young Audiences
'Viva Carmen' by Sébastien Laudenbach pitched a WIP version at Annecy with a bold, youthful spin on Bizet’s iconic opera.
It was a ravishing, vibrantly colored, light-hearted film that trusted its young audience to engage with reflections not just on death and grief but also on proletarian solidarity (the children go on strike and throw sweets at a bumbling police officer). Actors performed actions matching characters on the page, and the footage ended on a playful note with actress and singer Camélia Jordana (who voices Carmen) shrinking away after yelling loud enough to disturb neighbors. In discussing design and visual development, the team highlighted screenwriter Santiago Otheguy, art director Cyril Pedrosa and head of backgrounds Élodie Rémy, who previously worked on “Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary.”
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