Les enfants de Val d'Europe

2017
Video full HD, colour, sound, 28'26"

Les enfants de Val d'Europe​ studies and depicts the youth of Val d'Europe, a new town located 35 kilometers from Paris . Built around Disneyland amusement park, the distinctive landscape of Val d'Europe area inhabit the dreams, hopes and disillusionment of each of its inhabitants. In 1987 an agreement between between the French State, local authorities, the RATP and the Walt Disney Company resulted in a 30-year public-private partnership. EuroDisney was granted priority rights to purchase land, and committed to developing residential neighborhoods, offices and economic activities, gradually imposing its imprint – both postmodernist and sanitized – on the area now called Val d'Europe. Disneyland Paris opened in 1992, and now we can speak with the first generation of young adults who grew up in the area, alongside the park. How does one live day-to-day in a place that appears to offer an unreal relationship to the world? How has Disney’s presence in the area affected the childhood and adolescence of these young people? Les enfants de Val d'Europe juxtaposes the landscapes of the Val d’Europe with the words of its inhabitants. Interviews with young adults who grew up around Val d'Europe and the Disneyland Paris amusement park serve as an augmented soundtrack for a voyage through often deserted landscapes.

Music by Norman Bambi
Additional music by Stéphane Bellity and Wilfried Thierry
Voiceover by Ramsey Arnaoot, Gwendal Coulon, Margaux Duseigneur, Manon Klein, François Sabourin
Audio mixing : Norman Bambi, Carlos Carbonell
Programming : Carlos Carbonell
Translation : Ramsey Arnaoot, Lesley Brown, Charlotte Fraser, Thomas Gosselin, Joko Tandijono