La Torche is a 6 minute short film directed by Hugo Manhes and produced by WAG Productions. What's special about it? A night surfing session in colourful waves featuring Gaspard Larsonneur and Ian Fontaine, on the mythical Breton spot of La Torche.
"The configuration was perfect for the film: a rocky projection to install a first axis of light, the beach to install the second projector and a straight wave to reflect the light and film surfers in front of the camera. In total, there were 3 cameras, one on the rocky point, one near the beach and one aerial (UAV).
La Torche is also a mythical spot in Brittany, whose name I really liked. In this film, I wanted to include a narrative and cinematographic dimension. By burning a surfboard, I was referring to the name, but I was also giving a religious and mystical dimension to the film. Indeed, in Australia it is customary to burn a board to make an offering to Huey, mythological figure who creates the waves" tells us Hugo Manhes.
A technical feat organized to the millimetre and requiring several months of preparation and large technical means. To make this film, we had to light the beach of La Torche with four large projectors of 12,000 watts each, bring a generator - a truckload of tons - and especially work in a reduced team of about ten technicians... An incredible scene, repeated on paper, but which took all its meaning the day D, with the lighting of the projectors... Carried out from 1h30 to 5h30 in the morning, the session nevertheless required three months of preparation... Discover the making-of of the film.
The result is an incredible, iniatic scene (the board that burns as an offering to the surf god, the mental preparation of one of the surfers, standing in the middle of the night, his face stretched towards the sky, bathed in pink light...), religious and mystical, rocked by the almost supernatural voice of the Swedish singer Anna Von Hausswolff.
"The idea wasn't to make one more surf video, but to take the surf universe and instill an aesthetic in it to try to create a mystical environment" concludes Hugo Manhes.
