Presented at the inauguration of the exhibition devoted to the “Uprooted Moselle”, at the heart of the Metz International Fair, his latest feature film evokes the real “way of the cross” of the Moselle evacuees towards “France of the Interior »And more particularly towards the department of Vienne. An hour and a half of testimonies and memorial reconstructions captured by the illuminating cameras of Patrick Basso.
From tourism to audio visual
Originally from Longwy, this child of the Pays-Haut, grew up in the shade of the blast furnaces. A somewhat chaotic schooling, carried out in an atmosphere of dismantling of the factories of La Chiers, where his father works. The devouring desire to go and live elsewhere, as if to exorcise this oppressive past and ward off the fate of a programmed destiny. After a BAC accounting, without much conviction, Patrick Basso vegetates dangerously at a crossroads. “In reality, I’m just looking for my way.” Groping between tourism and audio visual. “A BTS for the first sector, a license for the second”. But fortunately, a heartfelt saving heart, for the world the image, which opens up astonishing perspectives to him, with the opening of three stores, with the evocative brand, “American Studio”, established in Metz, Saint-Julien , in the Kinepolis and Nancy reception hall. Colorful boutiques, mainly focused on the sale of ephemeral symbolic objects of the greatest cinematographic productions. Shy first steps towards the production and directing of short and feature films, passing stealthily through the crowded events sector, notably with the organization, two years in a row, of a Science Fiction Convention built around the presence actors from Star Wars and Lord of the Lambs.
From the thrill … to Memory
“After this period of uncertainty and above all indecision, I decided to invest myself in the making of detective films or historical documentaries in total complicity with talented authors and experienced technicians.” There is always this recurring contrast between spontaneous inspiration and a pronounced taste for the past of a bruised territory, with, as a trial run, an experimental thriller: “The choice”, shot between friends. “Humanly enriching experience. Fifty minutes of somewhat stereotypical chills and dotted suspense.
A first more structured attempt followed, supported by the Departmental Council 57 and the Lorraine Region, with the broadcast, initially confidential, on the local television channels, Mirabelle and Vosges TV. “The tomb of the guard”, recounting the resistance of the encircled city of Metz, during the war of 1870. “Shot in 2011, this docu-fiction really appears as our launching pad”. Alliance of the correct interpretation of professional actors and the unfailing commitment of enlightened amateurs. The feedback from critics and the public is excellent. Encouraging, for this perfectly controlled take-off towards a future yet to be built. Second production, a remarkable documentary on Robert Schumann, then a moving tribute to Jean Marie Pelt. Installed in this very didactic approach, Patrick Basso frees himself by directing “Death at the Golden Court”, a policeman filmed in a prestigious setting, with as major theme, the perilous search for manuscripts hidden in the walls of one of the most beautiful Museums of France. “The opportunity for some to discover this unique place of culture in Metz”. The Marsal Museum, then the Castle of Manderen will then find citizenship in two 52 minutes, the last of which came out a few days before confinement.
Evacuees in the Thirty Years’ War
Always attached to the History of the Moselle Patrick Basso goes up a gear, with the shooting of a feature film, of ninety minutes, on the ordeal of the “Evacuees” who will find their salvation board, far from their roots. The exodus of a population fleeing the invader, during the Second World War. “We were largely inspired by Odette’s diary, a young Moselle girl torn from her family to finally take refuge in Vienne”. Very detailed retrospective, structured around 22 testimonies of survivors, now aged 85 to 95 years. A memory film, the trailer of which was unveiled within the framework of the FIM, pending the pressing of a DVD, before being broadcast on the GIE channels of Via TV. Deserved crown of a complicated filming, largely disrupted by the development of the pandemic and containment. In the main roles, Virginie Van Acker, Fabrice Colombero and Mélina Dumay, on a script written, for the documentary part, by Paul Couturiau and for the fiction, by Franck Lemaire, with the effective participation of more than forty extras, on both sites, in Moselle and Vienne, in Ourdun more precisely. “Fantastic result of a team work, meticulous, with 25 masked technicians, scrupulously respecting the distances. An undeniable success linked, essentially, to this sublimating energy which thus propels Patrick Basso into the heart of the great directors working for the transmission of memory. “Important step in my career, taken under extremely tense conditions given the health crisis”. Barely recovered from his emotions, the most Moselle of the Longovians is now working on a new large-scale project, with the Strasbourg Production Company, Cérigo Film. “I can not reveal anything to date, except that we will make a leap in history, until the Thirty Years’ War”. Patience. Traveling through festivals with his productions, Patrick Basso has become a permanent ambassador of the Moselle, through its history. A well-thought-out journey towards a consecration that cannot wait, for a past that is more than perfect.
– Text: Christian MOREL – Photos: copyright free –
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