Autumn 43
by Joël Baud, Dominique Fumeaux
Synopsis | Cast & Crew | Technical Information
France, autumn 1943. Young baker Anna lives with her aging father in a small town near the Swiss border. As the violence of the German occupation becomes part of their daily routine, her own life is suddenly turned upside down when she discovers Joseph, a wounded German soldier who has deserted after refusing to continue serving the Nazi regime.
Despite the danger she brings upon those close to her, Anna decides to help him. But as the Germans begin hunting for Joseph and the violence around them intensifies, her decision draws Anna into a spiral of irreversible consequences, forcing her to risk everything to protect those she loves.
Cast
Virginie Janelas
Bastian Verdinas
Terence Carron
Director Bio
Joël Baud is a French director and screenwriter working between France and Switzerland. After studying filmmaking, he received the Best Screenplay Award in 2013 and went on to direct a range of fiction projects, music videos and commercials.
AUTUMN 43 is his first feature film.
Dominique Fumeaux is a French cinematographer who worked with Joël Baud on his short film BLUE PARADISE before taking over both director of photography and co-directing duties on AUTUMN 43.
Director Statement
What interests me, is not showing war as a spectacle, but observing what it does to ordinary people. How do we react when our convictions, our fears and our instinct for survival collide with violence? How far are we prepared to go to protect someone? And what are we willing to sacrifice in order to remain free?
I wanted to film this story with great tenderness and sensitivity, focusing on the characters’ looks, silences and emotions, in order to create a contrast with the harshness that lies beneath the story. The violence of war is constantly present, but I did not want it to become a spectacle. It is expressed above all through what it does to the characters and the traces it leaves on their daily lives.
I wanted to create imperfect, sensitive and deeply human characters who evolve through their encounters and the decisions they are forced to make. For me, this approach was a way of placing the human experience at the heart of the story.
Cast Bio
Virgine Janelas was born in Switzerland and is now based in Bordeaux. She studied acting in Paris, has developed her own theatre company and taken part in various productions as both a performer and director. She received the Cabaret Littéraire de Lausanne Award and the City of Gland Artistic Award in Switzerland. AUTUMN 43 marks her first role in a feature film.
Bastian Verdina initially trained as an actor at Cours Florent and later studied dramaturgy at La Manufacture and the University of Lausanne, developing a multidisciplinary artistic career. Alongside his work as an actor and creator, Bastian also works as an educator and in the humanitarian field.
Terence Carron studied theatre at Les Teintureries in Lausanne and afterwards founded the Luscofusco company in 2020. Since then, he has written, created and performed in various theatre and audiovisual projects.
Crew
Director of Photography: Dominque Fumeaux
Editing by: Joël Baud
Music composed by: Julie Kaps
Casting by: Nora Lune
Visual Effects: Cédric Jaccheri
Original title: Automne 43 | 90 minutes | French and GermanOV w/English subtitles | Audio 5.1 | Colour | Aspect Ratio 2,39:1
Photo Gallery
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