Star Suburb : la banlieue des étoiles

When we discover it, Star Suburb – devised then created autonomously for nearly two years by a young man of about twenty, with a few friends in his small apartment – not only received the honours of film magazines with perspectives as divergent as Starfix or Les Cahiers du Cinéma, but it also garnered major awards at the festivals of Avoriaz or Clermont-Ferrand, followed by the César for a fictional short film in 1984. An exceptional destiny for an ‘everyday’ science-fiction film, thwarting Hollywood clichés as much as it reappropriates them. Over the years – and while Stéphane Drouot unfortunately did not succeed in following up on this trial run – this inspired, DIY work of art, shot in 16mm scope has acquired ‘cult’ status, due at once to its total originality, its absence of offspring, and to the beautiful and commendable devil-may-care attitude of its author. When we discover it, Star Suburb – devised then created autonomously for nearly two years by a young man of about twenty, with a few friends in his small apartment – not only received the honours of film magazines with perspectives as divergent as Starfix or Les Cahiers du Cinéma, but it also garnered major awards at the festivals of Avoriaz or Clermont-Ferrand, followed by the César for a fictional short film in 1984. An exceptional destiny for an ‘everyday’ science-fiction film, thwarting Hollywood clichés as much as it reappropriates them. Over the years – and while Stéphane Drouot unfortunately did not succeed in following up on this trial run – this inspired, DIY work of art, shot in 16mm scope has acquired ‘cult’ status, due at once to its total originality, its absence of offspring, and to the beautiful and commendable devil-may-care attitude of its author.