“The first time he saw the island, Marini was politely leaning over the seats on the left, adjusting a plastic table before setting a lunch tray down. The passenger had looked at him several times as he came and went with magazines or glasses of whisky; Marini lingered while he adjusted the table, wondering, bored, if it was worth responding to the passenger’s insistent look, one American woman out of many, when in the blue oval of the window appeared the coast of the island, the golden strip of the beach, the hills that rose toward the desolate plateau.” That’s how The Island at noon starts, a short story in Julio Cortázar’s All fires the fire starts – which Philippe Prouff adapts to this 38-minute-long film.

Marini, a flight assistant of the Paris-Beirut route, sees the island of Xiros and falls in love with it while he overflies Greece at midday. At that moment, the island becomes his object of desire and Marini falls into a dark obsession.

The island at noon (Philippe Prouff, 2014)

Adapting a story by Cortázar can’t be an easy feat with its metaphors, political and philosophical allusions as well as Cortázar’s personal way of writing and thinking. However, The Island at noon by Prouff is a beautiful homage to the Argentinian author.

Philippe Prouff is a director and scriptwriter. He started his career as a photographer and first assistant director. Among his work as a director are documentaries as well as fiction pieces, such as La leçon de danse (2006), a five-minute-long short-film in which a young man shows the audience some dance steps with no musical background, which portrays the character in an absurd situation that subsequently is reproduced again to electronic music. This short-film was selected in a large number of festivals and received the Critic’s Award at the Huesca Festival 2007.

The island at noon was selected in the past edition of Clermont-Ferrand as part of the National Section and is part of the Official Section of the 8th Edition of the Valencia International Medium-length Film Festival La Cabina that takes place from the 5th to the 15th of November at the Filmoteca de Valencia.

LA ISLA A MEDIODÍA | Philippe Prouff · France · 2014 · 38 min