Cinema

“Bumper” is the English title of my French short film, called in French, “Le Créneau”.

Produced in 2008 by Reverence (Paris)

BUMPER – Synopsis:

For many years, Max, a young man full of ambition, has been dreaming of being accepted in a prestigious school of political sciences. The day before the interview, he plans to spend the night at his grandmother’s house which is near where the oral exam will be taking place the next morning, thus hoping to be in the best mindset to succeed. But once he gets there, Max finds out his Grandma has decided to take her driver’s license again…

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Director:

Nirina Ralantoaritsimba (also known as Nirina Ralanto) is a scriptwriter. In 2013 she co-wrote the feature “Love is in the air” produced by Universal, Révérence, Thelma and Manchester. She is an autodidact director. In 2010, she directed her first short film “Double word score” in France. In 2012 she started a docu-webseries called “Travel Journal in Abu Dhabi”, based on her life in the UAE as a French teacher. In 2013, she edited her new docu-webseries about her grandmother, “My weekend with Mémé”, and got an award for “Family genre” at Vancouver Webfest in 2015. Nirina is half from France, half from Madagascar. She is a writer and director. As a multidimensional artist, she is a painter, calligrapher, musician, singer, actress. Holding a PhD in French literature about travel journals in California, she is also a linguist and taught French in schools and universities in France, the US and the United Arab Emirates at Sorbonne University of Abu Dhabi.

Producer:

Julien Ralanto, producer at Reverence, produced the French comedy called “Amour et Turbulences” (English title: “Love is in the air“) coproduced by Universal, Manchester and Thelma. He also produced a short film called “Beau papa” and directed two short films called “Instantané” and “Hand to hand”. He’s now working on his own feature film.

If you are a producer and want to get more information about our comedy project, please contact us!

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BUMPER’s life

Our short film had its World Premiere in the United States, on October the 13th and the 14th 2018 in San Diego (city where I used to live as a French teacher) ! I take this as a sign and a blessing…

“Bumper” is a 18-minute short film inspired by family and made by family! It is a tribute to lineage and unity.

Our main characters? You see them on the poster above, at the dinner table: a grandson and his grandmother. We all experienced relationships with our grandparents, mythical and sometimes anachronistic heroes of our lives…

My brother and I wrote a script for a feature film (full length of the short) that we want to produce soon! While looking for producers and the best partnership for our feature, Julien and I decided to produce a short film, as a sample of our vision. We were convinced that by making this jewel, it would be easier for us to show the chemistry between Max and Mémé (the grandson and the grandmother).

Max is played by the French actor Hugues Jourdain. He is currently playing a successful one man show in Paris, called “Dans ma chambre”.

Mémé (Grandma) is played by the French actress Marie-Pierre Casey. In her very long career in the French TV and cinema, this is her first short film! She is currently playing in a TV series called “En Famille”.

Full cast:

Marie-Pierre Casey: Mémé (Grandma)

Hugues Jourdain: Max

Jana Bittnerova: driving instructor

Christian Abart: passerby

François Rabette : driving license examiner

What about the short story?

We invented a life situation about ambition for two different generations, in order to put Max and Grandma together in the grandmother’s house, in the countryside of France. This knot would make them play their best facets of their personalities. The scene of “Bumper” doesn’t belong to the feature script. In fact, Julien got this idea of a grandmother willing to pass the driving license again, and I found it an efficient and funny plot to start writing a short film. We wrote it quite quickly, because we were so used to write about our characters since the feature script.

On set…

Then we started the pre-production in September 2017, shot the movie during 6 days beginning of December, started the editing around Christmas and finished the post-production in June.

Photo credit: Elia Weppe and Pierre-Alain M’Barga

FESTIVALS

     

“Bumper” is nominated in the category Best short comedy!

On Saturday the 12th of January 2019, “Bumper” received its first award: Best Comedy Short!

“Bumper” received the Audience Award.

Bumper will be on screen on Friday, the 31st of May 2019 at Apollo cinema in Pontault-Combault for the “Soirée Courts-Métrages” :

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Photo credit: Elia Weppe and Pierre-Alain M’Barga

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FILMOGRAPHIE COMPLÈTE