Prénoms

The session will be followed by a discussionAt the beginning of one's life, there is a first name. A first name that is often chosen by one's father or mother, sometimes by both, sometimes by a relative or according to tradition. Those who receive this first name can adopt it or reinvent it according to their own intimate needs. Nurith Aviv went to meet twenty-two of her friends, following the itinerary of an alphabet book. She asked each of them to tell their story through their first name. As a prelude to a future installation, her feature film Prénoms invites us to listen to thirteen of them. “We carry a name, and it carries us,” says one of them. This central chiasmus holds the promise of unexpected relationships and unhoped-for echoes that set the film in motion. Combining the French language with the diverse origins of the first names, this is not a series of monologues but a fascinating polyphonic echo.