I shot this film in February 2020, following the end of France’s famous nationwide “sales,” which happen twice a year. The film brings together two parallel worlds found at the famous department stores in Paris. One of these worlds exists at 3 o’clock in the morning, just after the end of the winter season sale. The other exists the following afternoon. The film highlights the differences between these two worlds: silence and cacophony, waste and abundance, invisible labor and indulgence. The title was repurposed from the name of the commercial installataions at the department stores and makes a reference to Paris as the “City of Love.” This film was shot half on an iPhone 5s and half on a Canon 80D DSLR.

I oftentimes find myself drowning in a sea of notifications, pings and content from social media, a feeling that was heightened during the quarantine period of the Covid-19 pandemic. I wanted to present this film through different physical and digital windows to confuse the boundaries of the virtual and physical world, and explore what it means to be “inside” and “outside,” a concept that was ever more pertinent in a period where we were physically limited to remaining inside. I also played with shot composition and sound to distort notions of time, space, and the position of the viewer, concepts that can get lost while scrolling through the virtual world.

L’Arène is a short observational documentary I shot at the Arènes de Lutèce, a Roman-era gladiator arena in Paris. As this space has witnessed the passing of centuries of history, I was interested in capturing a temporary ecosystem of animals, people, and waste that centered around a group of young men playing soccer. The film also explores the relationships that can be found in groups and in solitude.

I reported, shot, and edited this short documentary focusing on the Stalingrad refugee camps in Paris, France.

I reported, shot and edited this feature piece with my colleague Eleonore Voisard. We explored an urban farm in Nanterre, France.