Emmanuelle Mattana Les langues imparfaites (the imperfect languages)

Les langues imparfaites chronicles my experience as the child of a migrant father, exploring the notion of translation in the context of the universal migrant narrative. I used documentary film as an emotive yet didactic medium to investigate the fallibility of language in communication, and how this results in self-interrogation of identity and belonging. I experimented with double projection and salient subtitles to emphasise the idea of ‘seeing and being double’. The viewer is forced to become an active participant in the work as they engage directly with the process of translating and comprehending visual and verbal cues and symbols.

Influencing artists:
Harun Farocki
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Vincent DeLuca