CLAY

Directed by Michaël Guerraz

Born in 1974 in Grenoble, Michael Guerraz produced and directed several short movies since 2003 : Building Blues,  Gare à l’amour, La méthode douce, Les ordures, Spirale.  Contacts was awarded for the best short script in the Grenoble short film festival in 2007 and produced by le G.R.E.C. He also co-directed documentaries about cinema and works as an editor. Clay (Argile) is his last short. Co-written by Olivier Dreux, the short, with Edith Scob and Laurent Delbecque, was produced by Les Films du Cygne in 2012.

It all began by a call for scenarii launched by TV Channel 13ème Rue for its short-movies series Chambre n°13. Coccinelle, Olivier Dreux' script was selected and shot by director Sarah Levy before being broadcasted on the channel. Beginner's luck? The following years clarified all this with wonderful encounters, about thirty written scenarii and 10 shot shorts-movies. Among them, some were tinkered with nothing at all, others were produced with higher budget, some stayed confidential, others were widely broadcasted like Sit-In & La Place du coeur directed by Frédéric Dubreuil as well as Spirale & Clay (Argile) directed by Michaël Guerraz. Olivier now spends most of his time writing feature films & TV fictions with a preference for highly emotional stories.

. Pre-selected for the Cesar of the Best Short Film 2014 

French festivals:

. 33rd Short Film Festival of Villeurbanne (2012)
. Festival « Un poing c’est court » in Vaulx-en-Velin (2013)
French-Speaking Space Award
Special mention for the script

. Festival « Les 24 Courts » - Out of Competiton (2013)
. Festival « Premiers Plans d’Angers » – Out of Competition (2013)
. Fest’Yves Arts 2013 – Out of Competition (2013)
. Festival CinéMA 35 – Official Competition (2013)
. 26th Festival Clap 89 (2013)
Silver Clap Award
. Festival « Mamers en Mars » (2013)
. European Cinema Festival of Lille (2013)
Best Direction Award
. Festival « Sup’ de Courts » (2013)
Special Award
. Rhône-Alpes Film Festival (2013)
Best Short Film Award
. Festival « Entr’2 marches » Cannes (2013)
. Festival Courts Courts in Tourtour (2013)
. 5th Meetings of Short Film in Montpellier – Panorama (2013)
. Festival of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (2013)
. Festival "La Normandie et le Monde" of Vernon program "Le Monde et l'Art" (2013)
Best Picture Award
. Short Film Festival of Noyon (2013)
. 6th Festafilm Festival of Montpellier (2013)
. 3rd Short Film Festival of Triel-sur-Seine (2013)
Best Short Film Award
. Festival of Saumur in The Theater Le Palace (2013)
Audience Award
. 5th International Short Film Festival « L’Ombre d’un court » in Jouy-en-Josas (2014) 
. 9th International Films Festival on Crafts (2014)
. Festival of Vélizy-Villacoublay 2014 (2014)
. Short Film Festival of Troyes (2014)

Jury Award
. 18ème Festival du Court-métrage de Fréjus (2015)
Jury Award (Hermès selection)

International Festivals:
. Jahorina Film Festival (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2012)
. 4th Atlanta Philosophy Festival (USA, 2012)
Audience Choice Award
. Cortex – Sintra Shortfilm Festival (Portugal, 2012)
. Euroshorts 2012 International Contest (Poland, 2012)
. Picture this… film Festival (Canada, 2013)
. 21st Mediterranean Festival of New Film-Makers in Larissa (Greece, 2013)
Silver Horse Award – Mediterranean Competition
. City of Lights – City of Angels (Colcoa) (Usa, 2013)
. French Cinema Panorama (China, 2013)
. 15th « Festival du Film Francophone » of Vienna (Austria, 2013)
. Palm Prings Short Film Festival (Usa, 2013)
. Bosifest 2013 (Slovenia, 2013)
. Mobile Shanghai Film Festival (China, 2013)
. Festival of Nations in Ebensee (Austria, 2013)
Silver bear
. Melbourne Film Festival (Australia, 2013)
. Festival Integration « You and Me » (Poland, 2013)
. Short Shorts Film Festival México – 8th edition (Mexico, 2013)
. 9th French Film Festival of Helvetia (Switzerland, 2013)
. 64th Film Video Montecatini International Short Film Festival (Italy, 2013) 
. Reggio Film Festival, International Short Film Contest (Italy, 2013)
International Jury Prize
. 16th French Film Festival of Prague (Czech Republic, 2013) 
. 21st Mix Brasil Festival Culture of Diversity (Brasil, 2013)
. Francophone Film Festival of Tübingen – Stuttgart (Germany, 2013) 
. Magma International Short Film Festival (Italy, 2013)
. 11th Edition Tirana International Film Festival – International Competition (Albania, 2013)
. 19th Edition of the International Short Film Festival Leuven (Belgium, 2013)
. 12nd International Film Festival of Ouidah - Quintessence (Benin, 2014)
. Grand Junction Film Festival (USA, 2014)
. French-Speaking Festival of Kalamazoo 2014 (Usa, 2014)
. 32th International Film Festival of Uruguay (Uruguay, 2014)

. Le Cinéma Français aujourd’hui in Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan, 2014)
. Cinema Perpetuum Mobile Film Festival (Belarus, 2014)
. Video Film Festival Imperia (Italy, 2014)
. Printemps français en Ukraine (Ukraine, 2014)
. International Shortfilm Festival Landau – La Meko (Germany, 2014)
. One Shot International Short Film Festival (Armenia, 2014)
. Mostra Festafilm Avanca (Portugal & Brazil, 2014)
. BUEU International Short Film Festival (Spain, 2014)
Best Music Award
. 7th International Film Festival Breaking Down Barriers (Russia, 2014)
Best Content Award
. Festival de cinéma de Alcala de Henares - Alcine (Spain, 2014)

Special Program:
. Selected to My French Film Festival organized by Unifrance Films (2014) 

TV Broadcasting & Internet:
. Orange Cinema Series (France)
. RTI (Italy)
. TV5 Monde
. Shorts TV International
. Altezza communications (Russia - DVD) . CVS (VOD)
. IF Cinema (VOD)
. FVS Entertainment (Air France Flights) 

Screening Theaters:
. Theater L’Escurial – Paris (2012)
. Ciclic – Festival Désirs Désirs (2013)

. Theater Jean Eustache in Pessac ( 2013)
. Theater La Grenette of Bourg-en-Bresse (2014)

. Ciné-Club of Vélizy (2014)
. Les Lumières – Carrière sur Seine (2014)
. Festival Premiers plans – Angers (2014) 

Synopsis: Alex is posing. An old lady is sculpting. It would be a normal situation... if the lady wasn't blind and only had her hands to "see". Wrinkled hands that she lays on the naked body of her young model. Alex is going to experience an unusual posing session.

Drama – 18’30’’ – 2,40 – Color – France 2012

Cast: Edith Scob, Laurent Delbecque
Direction: Michaël Guerraz
Script: Olivier Dreux & Michaël Guerraz
Production: Jonathan Hazan, Alexandre Charlet
Cinematographer: Sylvain Rodriguez
Sound: Mathias Large
Editing: Nicolas Sarkissian
Composer: Clémence Fabbricotti et Louis Rouah

With the supports of the Pays de la Loire Regional Fund, the Rhône-Alpes Regional Fund, Orange Cinéma Séries, the CNC (COSIP), the Procirep and the Angoa-Agicoa.