Pacific Club
dir. Valentin Noujaïm
short film, documentary, hybrid
France, Qatar / 16 minutes / 2023
Synopsis
In 1979, the Pacific Club was opened in the basement of La Défense - the business district of Paris. It was the first nightclub for Arabs from the suburbs; a parallel world of dance, sweat, young loves, and one-night utopias. Azedine, 17 years old at the time, tells us the forgotten story of this club and of this generation who dreamed of integrating into France but who soon came face to face with racism, the AIDS epidemic, and heroin.
Written and directed by Valentin Noujaïm
Production : Iliade et films - Manon Messiant
Cinematography : Pauline Domejean
Sound : Lucas Domejean
Editing : Dinah Ekchajzer
Music : Space Afrika
VFX : Nicolas Pirus
Sound editing : Ary Carpman
Mixing engineer : Maxime Roy
Featuring : Azedine Benabdelmouene / Taos Bertrand / Julien Mezence
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Festivals & screenings
World premiere : CPH:DOX - New:Visions Competition, DK
Champs-Élysées Film Festival - French Competition, FR
Lichter Film Festival, DE
Kurzfilmfest Hamburg - International Competition, DE
Videoex - International Competition, CH
Black Star Film Festival - Competition, US
Dokufest - Competition, Kosovo
Silhouette Festival - Competition, FR
Metrograph - Shasha Movies presents: Valentin Noujaïm, US
Film Festival Heceg Novi, Montenegro - Competition, ME
Festival International de Lille, FR
Villa Medici Film Festival - Competition, IT
Bucharest Int. Experimental Film Festival - Competition, RO
Encounters Film Festival - Competition, UK
BFI London Film Festival - Experimenta, UK
Exhibitions
Lafayette Anticipations, FR
« Night Shift » curated by Crystallmess at
KANAL-Centre Pompidou, BE
Awards
Best Short Dox - Dokufest
Jury Special Mention - CPH:DOX
Jury Special Mention - Lichter FF
Jury Special Mention - Videoex
Selected press
Artforum: Valentin Noujaïm's requiem for a razed nightclub
Filmmaker's bio
Born in France to Lebanese and Egyptian parents, Valentin Noujaïm is a graduate in political science of the Institut d’études politiques, Lille, FR (2015) and in screenwriting of La Fémis, Paris, FR (2020). Noujaïm’s work focuses on three axes: anti-racist movements, spatial utopias, and the disappearance of communities and individuals. He brings to life marginal and strange characters, in fantasized universes inspired by the genre of tale, while relying on a research on formats, by mixing DV, 16mm, digital and special effects. Marked by social and post-colonial issues, his work questions the relationships of power and domination that are at stake in French society, through the prism of a strong ideal: revolutionary love or the love of revolution.
Noujaïm took part in several group exhibitions: in 2022, Salon de Montrouge, curated by Guillaume Désanges and Coline Davenne, Montrouge, FR; Prix Utopi·e, Magasins généraux, Pantin, FR; Festival Parallèle, Marseille, FR; in 2021, The Self and the Other, curated by Barbara Matas Moris, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; festival Aflam, MUCEM, Marseille, FR. Currently completing a residency at Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, DE, Noujaïm was formerly a resident at Artagon, Marseille, FR (2022), and will attend a residency programme at Académie de France à Rome — Villa Médicis, Rome, IT (2023) and at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, France (2023). He is writing his first feature film, The Night of Queens.