Ghostdance

Nicolas Blies and Stéphane Hueber-Blies, also called the Blies brothers, are two French filmmakers, producers, and artists who create their works together.

Biography

In 2013, they conceptualized the documentary music transmedia Soundhunters in co-production with the French-German TV channel ARTE. Soundhunters was imagined to transform the world into an infinite musical instrument. It is the first part of the collection "Living the world poetically". The transmedia is released in 2015 in collaboration with many international artists including Jean Michel Jarre, Simonne Jones, or Blixa Bargeld. The project is selected for the Prix Europa in Berlin and at SXSW. In 2016, the Blies brothers were invited to present their work at Lincoln Center during the New York Film Festival. They won the Innovation Award at FIPA 2015, the Courrier International Award for Best Webdocumentary at the "Mois du Webdoc" in 2015, and the "Grand Prix" and "Most Innovative Experience" at the Sichuan TV Festival in China. They are currently working on developing the next two parts of the Collection.

In 2019, they wrote and directed their first feature film Zero Impunity (2019). The feature-length documentary mixes animation and real footage. The film had its world premiere in March 2019 at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Greece) before being in official competition at the Annecy Film Festival (France) and then at the Moscow International Film Festival or the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Marcel Jean (artistic director of the Annecy Film Festival) said in Le Film Français that Zero Impunity is "the perfect example of what we want to do with Contrechamp (the new feature-length competition section)". Le Figaro identifies the film as "a hard-hitting film" that "left Annecy speechless". And Première describes the film as "impressive". The film won the Audience Award at the Porto-Vecchio Political Film Festival, carried by Karl Zero and Daisy D'Errata, and the Best Feature Film Award at the Bucharest International Film Festival.

The film is the centerpiece of an international transmedia social impact project denouncing the impunity of sexual violence in wartime. The transmedia project is built as an "active media that promotes the liberation of the word and thus fights against impunity". The Zero Impunity media, supported by more than 400,000 citizens around the world, was launched with the publication of the first investigation L'ADN de Sangaris in Médiapart (France), Internazionale (Italy), InfoLibre (Spain), Le Desk (Morocco), Inkyfada (Tunisia), Correctiv (Germany), Le Jeudi and Tageblatt (Luxembourg). For Edwy Plenel, Zero Impunity is "a peaceful weapon". The transmedia won the FIPA d'Or 2017 and was selected for the Visa d'Or de l'information France TV. The filmmakers were invited to participate in numerous conferences including the presence of Dr. Denis Mukwege (Nobel Peace Prize 2018) at the University of Angers.

In the continuity of Zero Impunity, the Blies brothers are currently preparing a new transmedia social impact project about child protection.

In April 2021, they also decided to devote themselves to an intimate work (cinema and theater) on the traumas of their own childhood, as well as on the intergenerational traumas that inhabit their family history. To do so, they create in Mulhouse, their hometown, L'Atelier du Fleuve.

Jury

In 2020, the Blies brothers are members of the feature film jury section "Contrechamp" at the 44th Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The same year, they were also invited by the Annecy Festival to give their vision of animation cinema in the "Masterclass" section.

In 2018, Nicolas Blies is a member of the jury section "National Documentary" and Stéphane Hueber-Blies member and president of the section "Innovation Award" at the 31st International Festival of Audiovisual Production in Biarritz (FIPA).

After completing her master’s in sociology, Kim O'Bomsawin launched her career as a documentary filmmaker. O’Bomsawin, of Abenaki origin, has worked on numerousproductions for several broadcasters. She recently wrote and directed the feature length documentaries Quiet Killing and Teweikan revived. She is currently working onnew documentaries, including one about Native justice (Radio Canada) and another one on childhood (NFB). Also coming soon, a film about the universe of the Innu poetJoséphine Bacon (Radio Canada).In addition to her passion for indigenous issues, her education in sociology has helped her become a versatile filmmaker with a keen interest in everything related to thehuman condition.

Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne is a screenwriter and script consultant. Among the works she has collaborated on are Incendies by Denis Villeneuve, Enemi starring Jake Gyllenhaal; Allure by Sanchez Brothers starring Rachel Evan Wood; and Bon Cop, Bad Cop 2, starring Patrick Huard and Colm Feore.

She also produced Lewis Cohen's hit series Fire Within, winner of the Prime Time Emmy Award for Best Alternative Series, and the feature-length documentary Lovesick, winner of the Gemini Award for Best Feature length documentary.

Between 1995 and 2006, she worked as an analyst at Telefilm Canada, then as head of the documentary sector at Radio-Canada, before joining the Television Drama Sector where she worked as a project manager.