Frank Matter
Switzerland | 2021 | 139 min
World premiere
Languages : Chinese, English, German, Xhosa
Subtitles : English, French
Born on 8 June 1964, Frank Matter films four “twins”, born the same day as him, but in different latitudes. Interweaving their life stories with rich archive material, the filmmaker connects these Parallel Lives with elements of his own biography, to compose a fascinating fresco in which intimate trajectories are part of the advent of the global village.
How many “twins” do we have, born on the same day, in the same year, in other latitudes and different conditions that have determined or influenced their destinies? Frank Matter was born on 8 June 1964, an “ordinary Monday”: the Beatles were visiting Hong Kong for the first time, Malcom X was receiving death threats while cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was giving birth to the first baby of the “space age”. A little later, the Vietnam War would intensify and Nelson Mandela would be imprisoned... for life. Parallel Lives—whose title is inspired by the famous work by Plutarch—takes us to meet Melissa, Zukiska, Li and Michel whom the director filmed in the United States, South Africa and China. Interweaving their life stories with rich archive material and elements taken from his own biography, Matter composes a fascinating documentary fresco, which reveals the extent to which these intimate trajectories are part of the acceleration of change brought about by globalisation, even affecting the editing of the film itself, which was completed during the global lockdown last spring...
Emmanuel Chicon
Forum 2021
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