IX Side by Side LGBT Film Festival, Saint Petersburg, 2016 IX Side by Side LGBT Film Festival, 2016 | Page 9

THÉO & HUGO, PARIS 5.59
Jacques Martineau & Olivier Ducastel France, 2016, 97 min
20 November, su
18:30 — 21:30
2016 — Berlin International Film Festival, Teddy Audience Award
2016 — FilmOut San Diego, Best Actor, Best International Feature
Théo and Hugo encounter each other’s bodies in a sex club. They talk, things blur into the haziness of unbridled
desire, then take shape for a moment as their gaze meets before they resume their exploration and lose
themselves anew. A few moments later the two men feel the need to go outside. Together they drift down
the deserted streets of nocturnal Paris. Suddenly they find themselves confronted by a sense of reality that
wipes out their freedom and aimlessness and lends each step an existential helplessness. Do they want to know
more about each other? Will their trust be rewarded? What are their expectations? Olivier Ducastel and
Jacques Martineau display consummate sensitivity in bringing us closer to two men as they strive for intimacy
in spite of being stalled by their insecurity. Their two leading actors delight us with their remarkably intuitive
performances and their incredible charm.
«Théo and Hugo is, among all our movies,
the one which deals only with love, and sex,
and freedom, and the right to be yourself.
We hope those images will help the audience
to be more free and happy. Love is all we deserve».
Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau have
been working together since 1995 and in that
time have created a formidable volume of work
including the road movie The Adventures of Felix
(2000) which won the Jury Prize Teddy Award
at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. Over the years
their work has been screened at many of the leading
festivals including Locarno and received awards
such as the Jean Vigo Prize in 2009 for the film
Family Tree. Their latest collaboration, Théo &
Hugo Paris 5:59 was presented at the 2016 Berlin
Film Festival in the Panorama Section, and has
met with rave reviews from the critics and is one
of the must see films of the year.
Join Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel after the screening for Q&A. In participation with Russian employees and volunteers
of HIV/AIDS-service organisations, we will talk about living with HIV, issues of stigmatisation of HIV-positive people and learn
about the situation in Russia and France.