Brise-glace

In 1986, the French Minestry of Foreign Affairs commissioned Jean Rouch, Titte Törnroth and Raoul Ruiz to sail aboard a Swedish icebreaker. With a limited crew and from their own point of view, both aesthetically and in terms of content, each of the three filmmakers filmed one episode of Brise-Glace. The three parts complement each other to form one remarkable travel description. Jean Rouch, in his cinema-verité style with many close-ups and no commentary, shows the mythical beauty of the icebreaker and the everyday life of its crew. Titte Törnroth reveals more about the people on board when she lets the captain and the navigator speak in voice-overs. In the last part, Raul Ruiz tells fantastic stories, in which the ice plays the leading role, and the icebreaker assumes different guises. A triptych that challenges our perceptions. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)