A movie directed by Valérie Urréa

How to film that which is hidden? Filmmaker Valérie Urréa confronted this magnificent and formidable challenge in directing a film based on Manta. This solo choreographed by Eric Lamoureux and Héla Fattoumi and performed on stage by Héla has met with considerable success on tour. It is exceptionally political. The artist shares her experience of wearing the niqab, the Muslim full veil.

The film claims its role as a subjective interpretation of the piece, fruit of an in-depth encounter between the dance artists and an artist of the image, film director Valérie Urréa, who is deeply involved in questioning the representation of the body in an Arab world in movement.

The virtuosity of her camera work is to explore the depths. Or in contrast, caress the nearness of intimacy. This close-up work often focuses on capturing patiently, and as closely as possible, the dancer's regard – that rare facet of her person still accessible.

In these moments the viewer no longer knows if they see the world through the eyes of the director or the eyes of the stage performer. Subjectively, the film transgresses the coercive power of concealment which the veil seeks to impose on the woman-object. And not without reminding us that this cloth, by dint of pretending to conceal, reveals an excess of obsession for that which could reveal itself. Valérie Urréa's film succeeds in revealing it all, beyond the veil.

Gérard Mayen journalist, writer and dance criticism

Héla Fattoumi and Éric Lamoureux founded the Compagnie FATTOUMI/ LAMOUREUX in 1988. Their first work Husaïs was awarded the prize for best first piece at the Bagnolet International Choreographic Competition in 1990, then their trio Après-midi  received the “New Talents” prize from the SACD in 1991. These two  pieces placed them as leaders of the new generation of contemporary  choreographers and brought them international renown.

A space for research whose source is the intermingling of their individual features.
  From piece to piece, they mine the intrinsic intelligence of the body,  its power to reveal meaning, which can also be thought as a part of  movement.
  Several other important pieces were created in the same vein as Husaïs: Si loin que l’on aille (at the Théâtre de la Bastille and the Théâtre de la Ville, 1992); Fiesta (commissioned by the Avignon Festival, 1992); Asile Poétique (at the Théâtre de la Ville, 2000) based on texts by the poet Antonio Ramos Rosa; Wasla, ce qui relie… (at the Lyon Dance Biennial, 1998); Vita Nova (at the Grande Halle de la Villette, 2000) with the 11th graduating class of the National Center for Circus Arts.
  These pieces show choreographic work linked to the ideas of mastery/  nonmastery, strength/ fragility, minimalism/ performance, a dance whose  expressive weight is charged by a “graphic energy.”

They were appointed directors of the CCN of Caen/  Basse-Normandie in 2004, where they continued their work with pieces  focusing on societal issues.
  These works were La Madâ’a (at the Arsenal in Metz, 2004) with the Joubran brothers, Palestinian virtuosi on the oud; Pièze (a “pressure measurement”) and La danse de Pièze  (at the Festival Dialogue de corps, Ouagadougou, 2006 and the Théâtre  de la Bastille), about the idea of “homosensuality” in the Arab-Muslim  world; Just to dance… (the Espace des Arts in Chalon-sur-Saône, 2010), a piece about the idea of “creolization” developed by Édouard Glissant; MANTA,  a solo created at the Montpellier Festival in 2009 and performed on  tour (Tokyo, Séoul, Berlin, Tunis, Brussels, Stockholm, Oslo), based on  the problem inherent in wearing the niqab; Lost in burqa, (at  the Festival danse d’ailleurs, 2011) a performance for 8 dancers, based  on the “clothing-sculptures” by the Moroccan plastician Majida Khattari;  Masculines (at the Arsenal de Metz, 2013) and on the representations of the feminine on both sides of the Mediterranean.

They are reactivating a choreographic research recharging itself with the expressive and poetic potential of dance.
Une douce imprudence co-signed with Thierry Thieû Niang (at the  Festival Ardanthé 2013, and the Théâtre National de Chaillot, 2014) on  the idea of “Care”; Waves, a commission for the Swedish opera  company NorrlandsOperan and its symphony orchestra, under the auspices  of Umeå 2014, European cultural capital, for which they are associated  with the Swedish singer and composer Peter von Poehl.

They also chose to step outside theatres to work in situ in other reactive contexts.
  In February 2009, they created the performance Stèles as part of a special “Nocturne”, a commission from the Louvre Museum.
  In 2008 they created Promenade at the Grand Palais, imagining a dialogue with the monumental sculptures of Richard Serra.
  In January 2012 they created Circle, inviting the audience into  the center of a circular structure where dance goes wild with the  massed collective energy of 26 professional and amateur dancers.
  In 2013, as part of the Normandy Impressionist Festival they stepped  inside the exhibition “Summer at the water’s edge” at the Beaux-Arts  Museum of Caen for a choreographic Flânerie (wandering).

Creation of the Festival Danse d’Ailleurs (Dance from Elsewhere) (2005)
  Beginning in 2005, they founded the Festival Danse d’Ailleurs whose  vocation is to put back into perspective the idea of universalism while  questioning referent frameworks for modernity in art, relating to  cultural horizons.
  The first four editions focused on artists from the vast, diverse  African continent and brought international recognition to the event,  and the following editions opened as far as Asia, linking with the Hot  Summer Festival in Kyoto, Japan.

Héla Fattoumi and Éric Lamoureux are fully committed to the promotion and the defense of choreographic art.
  From 2001 to 2004, Héla Fattoumi was the dance vice president of the  SACD (Société des Auteurs Compositeurs Dramatiques). She was also in  charge of programming the section called ”Vif du sujet” at the Avignon  Festival.
  From 2006 – 2008, she was the President of the ACCN (Association of the  National Choreographic Centers). From 2010 – 2013 Éric Lamoureux took  over the Presidency; he is now the vice president.
  From 2013 to 2015, Héla Fattoumi has been the president delegated to long-term planning at the SYNDEAC.

In March 2015 Héla Fattoumi and Éric Lamoureux were named  Directors of the Centre chorégraphique national de Franche-Comté in  Belfort, for which they are developing their VIADANSE project.

Back in 1987, after having completed her studies at the Ecole nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière, Valérie Urréa began asserting her passion for visual and performing arts. Documentaries, live recordings, fictions, from 'Bruit Blanc' to 'L’Homme qui Danse', all of Valerie Urréa’s films, which are principally coproduced by ARTE, explore highly-sensitive themes such as autism, masculinity and issues concerning race, through artistic visions. Her multiple award-winning films are regularly presented in international festivals. She was guest-artist twice for the Commission Image Mouvement de la Délégation des Arts Plastiques (Image/Movement Commission of the French Visual Arts Delegation). At the same time, she was a teacher for several years at the École Supérieure des Arts Visuels (ESAV - Higher Institute for Visual Arts) in Marrakech, specializing in the relationships between images and performing arts. 

Source : Valérie Urréa