Playground

Playground

Synopsis in English

How to make electronic music at the playground? On a sunny Sunday, a mother and a son produce a handmade music handbook on the fly, assembling images into collections of bizarre rhythms.

“How many instruments are there in a playground? A rhythmic exploration of the sounds around us, which with the help of repetition form an awesome electronic soundtrack. The climbing frame is not only fun and colorful, it has its own sound. Try it yourself!” – Cecilia Träff, Filmfest Sundsvall

Synopsis en français

Comment faire de la musique électronique au square ? Un dimanche ensoleillé, une mère et un fils font un manuel de musique faite à la main en accéléré, assemblant les images dans des collections de rythmes étranges.

“Combien d’instruments y a-t-il dans une aire de jeux ? Une exploration rythmée des sons qui nous entourent, qui, à l’aide de la répétition, forment une superbe bande-son électronique. L’aire de jeux n’est pas seulement amusante et colorée, elle a aussi son propre son. Essayez vous-même !” – Cecilia Träff, Filmfest Sundsvall

Synopsis auf Deutsch

Wie macht man elektronische Musik auf dem Spielplatz? An einem sonnigen Sonntag erstellen eine Mutter und ein Sohn ein Handbuch für selbstgemachte Musik im Schnelldurchlauf, und fügen Bilder zu seltsamen Rhythmussammlungen zusammen.

“Wie viele Instrumente gibt es auf einem Spielplatz? Eine rhythmische Erkundung der Klänge um uns herum, die mithilfe von Wiederholungen einen großartigen elektronischen Soundtrack bilden. Das Klettergerüst ist nicht nur lustig und farbenfroh, es hat auch seinen eigenen Klang. Versuch es selber!” – Cecilia Träff, Filmfest Sundsvall

Walter Duncan & Marie-Pierre Bonniol, Playground (United-States, 2022, 1’55)

Credits

Playground, Walter Duncan & Marie-Pierre Bonniol (United-States, 2022, 1’55)

Images and music: Walter Duncan & Marie-Pierre Bonniol

Production: Studio Walter, Berlin, April 2022

Screenings and exhibitions

2022 Film-Maker’s Cooperative, New York, USA (World premiere)

2022 Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA

2022 Bloc Books / Tennis Bar, Berlin, Germany

2022 Enimation festival, Maribor, Slovenia

2022 MikroFAF festival, Belgrade, Serbia

2023 Short Film Market, Clermont-Ferrand, France

2023 Children’s Film Festival Seattle, Seattle, WA, USA

2023 A-Film Teens Fest, Prag, Czech Republic

2023 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, CA, USA

2023 Cinema 3/99 / Xcèntric, CCCB, Barcelona, Spain

2023 Moscerine festival, Roma, Italy

2023 Barnes Film Festival, London, UK

2023 FICUNAM, Mexico (within the talk Cine experimental para niñas y niño of Gloria Vilches)

2023 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berlin, Germany

2023 6th Filmfest Sundsvall, Sundsvall, Sweden

2023 GaztefilmFest, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

Distribution

Film-Maker’s Cooperative, New York, USA – filmmakerscoop@gmail.com

https://film-makerscoop.com/catalogue/duncan-walter-playground

Studio Walter, Berlin, Germany – mpb@studiowalter.com

Julie Tippex, Paris, France – marie@julietippex.com

Link to trailer

Copyright

Walter Duncan & Marie-Pierre Bonniol, 2022

VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany – bildkunst.de

Biography

Walter Duncan and Marie-Pierre Bonniol are an intergenerational creative duo living in Berlin. Walter is a 10-year-old child interested in animation. Marie-Pierre, his mother, is an artist. Their collaboration started during the first lockdown spring 2020 at home, soon followed by a broadcast in a Fluxus programme of Re:Voir. Together they make experimental video films, playing with forms, light, editing and music, which they make themselves, in temporal and formal intensities. Their creative collaboration has already been presented by numerous festivals (30+), including CineYouth, branch of the Chicago International Film Festival. Their works have also been presented by Café OTO, Anthology Film Archives and Stadtmuseum Berlin. Their short films are distributed by Collectif Jeune Cinéma (Paris) and Film-Maker’s Cooperative (New York), with the support of Julie Tippex and AG Kurzfilm. They are currently developing an experimental film about video games, images and media partly aimed at children, and are looking for production partners for this project.

studiowalter.com

Screenings, past festivals, press and info for the film Korridor

Alumni 2022: Oberhausen Seminar, Werkstatt der Jungen Filmszene, NFFTY

Statement

For each production, we always put ourselves in a process, a creative moment together, where our ideas combine, complement and bounce off each other. What happens there is concentrated, and most often quickly edited. We create together and it’s joyful. It is this circulation between our two visions and the energy that is triggered during our collaborations that we want to convey through our films. But also a certain manifesto for integrative practices, articulated as closely as possible with life, without hierarchy between the ages, for the absolute creative room that can be found in this space.

Marie-Pierre Bonniol, May 20222

Press photo

Still image: Playground, Walter Duncan and Marie-Pierre Bonniol, 2022 © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Press photo: Piotr Pietrus, 2020 © Studio Walter | Request

Contact for general enquiries