Quel meilleur moyen pour découvrir Saint Etienne que par son réseau de tramways qui sillonnent la ville ? Mis en service en 1881, le tramway stéphanois est le plus ancien de France. Vieille cité ouvrière (métallurgie, extraction de houille…) la ville a subi de plein fouet les crises économiques du XX° siècle, partageant avec Roubaix une décroissance démographique jusqu’alors inconnue en France. Pourtant, « Sainté » a su inverser la tendance grâce à une vie associative et culturelle dynamique et une économie tournée vers l’innovation (Novaciéries, Cité du Design…).

Nicolas Habas comes from cinema first, as a screenwriter and director of several short fiction films including Le mal de Claire, broadcast on French TV and documentaries (La parole en chantier, triptych on a popular neighborhood in urban renewal). He is very interested in the tensions between reality and the imaginary, society and intimacy, geography and territories. With a self-taught apprenticeship that led him to a deep understanding of the codes of the film industry, he decided to find «his» cinema and returned with Le Corps de la Ville, the web series anchored in dance, to his first loves, since he made his first dance video in 1998. Shot during the 30° Eurockéennes de Belfort Festival and Broadcast on Arte Concert, Mouvements is its second web series.

Filmography :

2022 Danse ton île - Documentary 52’ (support : HD, © JPL Productions/ AV Com Productions/ France Télévision).

2021 Le corps de la ville en Martinique - Documentary 52 ‘ and web series (support : HD, 10 x 5’, © JPL Productions/ WIPS Productions/ France Télévision).

2020 Pères en prison - Short documentary (support HD, time 5’ © Festival La Rochelle Cinéma/ studio Un Poil Court)

2019 Le corps de la ville à Nouméa - Documentary 52 ‘ and web series (support : HD, 10 x 5’, © JPL Productions/ AV Com Productions/ France Télévision).

2018 Mouvements - Documentary 26’ and web series (support : HD, 18 x 3’, © Séquence SDP/ Eurockéennes de Belfort/ Viadanse/ Ccn de Belfort/ Arte Concert).

2014/2019 Le corps de la ville - Web series (support : HD, 36 x 4’, © studio Un Poil Court in partnership with La Rochelle Cinéma Festival , Studio Chérie (Berlin), le Périscope (Lyon), Nocte Graus Festival (Spain), DAN.CIN.FEST, La Rochelle's CCN, En Knap Cie (Slovenia), Hors Série Cie, Propos Cie, Jean Claude Gallotta Cie and Lyon's CNSMD).

2011 Mauvaise graine - Short fiction (support : 35 mm, 21’, © CLC Productions/ Lyon TV).

2006/2012 La parole en chantier - Documentary triptych (support : HDV, 3 x 40’, © Petits bolides films/ Espace Louis Aragon).

2004 Le mal de Claire - Short fiction (support : Super 16 mm, 14’, © Lumina Films/France Télévision).

2000 En attendant septembre - Short fiction (support : DV, 30’, © Petits Bolides films/ Carré Image). 

1998 Marie au parc - Dance video (support : VHS, 7’, autoproduction).

In this documentary serial, each place consists of an original choreographic proposal, created and filmed in situ, in its natural sound environment. A work that requires a rigorous filming device, in which I am looking for a bridge where choreographic and cinematographic creation could enlighten each other. Also, I am in a permanent creative bond with the choreographers to transcribe with them the intentions of the proposed dance, in view of its environment.

The first step is upstream of the shooting, and consists in finding the location of the shooting with the dancer. It is not a question of investing space arbitrarily, but of integrating the dancer’s personal and living experience into telling it. The choice also derives from the visual and choreographic cinematographic potential and its historical and sociological significance.

The second stage is that of writing, the result of a collaboration between the body of the dancer, the camera, and the chosen space.

The work begins on the basis of a concerted improvisation. It is a question of letting oneself be grasped by the sensations to which the chosen place sends us: the colors, the matter of the floors, the circulation of light and the flow of individuals are as many materials likely to nourish and frame the writing. The hand rests on a wall, the foot slides on gravel, a body tastes the freshness of the shade under a tree... And already a story is woven between a body and a moving gaze, which will result in a rigorous technical cutting, in which the movements of the choreography are written according to certain camera axes.

This meticulous writing allows us to concentrate, at the time of filming, on the excellence of the choreographic gesture, and the quality of natural light. Like an actor, the dancer perfects his gestures, while I play with the shadows and contrasts created by the evolution of natural lighting.

Meeting point between a place and a body, between the choreographic and cinematographic creation of the documentary, in direct connection with the history of a territory, its inhabitants and its users, Le corps de la ville, wishes above all to make the poetry of dance accessible to all.