Close-Up Festival #3: *Toucher Terre* by Jérémie Basset
© Close-Up Festival
A partner of the Close-Up festival since its inception, ENSA Paris-la Villette is organizing several screenings during this 6th edition, including this French by Jérémie Basset from 2023.
Free admission while seats last.
Film synopsis:
Eco-friendly and available in abundance right beneath our feet, rammed earth is a material as old as architecture itself. Through several construction projects across Europe that use different techniques, this documentary highlights the full richness of this resource and its history. Experts in archaeology, materials science, architecture, and construction techniques reveal the various facets of earthen buildings and attest to the qualities and possibilities the material offers.
Movie runtime: 68 min.
Jérémie Basset turned to documentary filmmaking after earning his degree in cinematography from the E.N.S. Louis Lumière in 2002. Since then, he has led a life that is geographically “on the move,” in which his work in the audiovisual field occasionally intersects with various other professional experiences. Notably, in 2009, he directed and co-wrote an anthropologically oriented documentary about a cultural phenomenon in southern Italy, *Latrodectus*—“which bites in secret.” From 2011 to 2019, through his production company Les Films du Lierre, he produced, directed, and handled cinematography for more than 120 short films for their client amàco, “the building materials workshop.”
Distributor: Jupiter Films
As part of the festival, ENSA Paris-la Villette will host screenings of four other films:
- Thursday, November 19, 2026, at 6:30 p.m.: Filming [in] Architecture. Students from the Paris-la Villette, Paris-Belleville, Paris-Malaquais, Paris-Val de Seine, Versailles, and Toulouse schools will present short films they created as part of their studies.
- Friday, November 20, 2026, at 1:30 p.m.: Of Dreams and Cement Blocks by Anne-Sophie Birot and Laetitia Douane, with the directors in attendance
- Monday, November 23, 2026, at 1:30 p.m.: Brunaupark by Félix Hergert and Dominik Zietlow
- Monday, November 23, 2026, at 3:30 p.m.: *La Terre des vertus* by Vincent Lapize, with the director in attendance
Screenings are open to everyone. Admission is free while seats last.
