La femme disparue

A young woman wakes up in a forest without being able to remember how she got there. Everything seems new and strange. Driven by her curiosity, she starts to explore her surroundings and feels how her senses are opening up with every step. Soon it is impossible to say if this is only a dream or has already become reality.

»La femme disparue« (translated to »The Woman Who Disappeared«) has been made for the 4th edition of Neuchâtel Super 8 Film Festival that took place in October 2021 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The films made for the festival have to be shot on one cartridge of super 8 film stock with only in-camera edits. An original score has to be produced blindly without having seen the film. In French this way of making films is called »tourné-monté«. The films are projected at the festival and the filmmakers experience their films for the very first time together with a live audience.

»La femme disparue« received the 2nd Prize of the Jury during the festival in Neuchâtel. Thanks so much!

The film was shot in Friedrichsruh and Hamburg, Germany, in August 2021.

A film by LARS KEMNITZ | http://www.larskemnitz.com
Starring ALEXA HARMS | http://www.filmmakers.de/alexa-harms

Shot on KODAK EKTACHROME 100 D super 8 film stock
Processing by ANDEC Filmtechnik, Berlin, Germany
Telecine by GRANDMARQUIS, Biel, Switzerland

I feel like this film is a little bit more easily accessible than most of the other short films that I’ve done so far. Basically, it’s a very simple story. A woman is missing and wakes up in a forest without knowing how she got there. She realizes that she’s still alive and starts to explore the nature around her. I think this process of exploring becomes something really magical, because the forest and nature in general play the second lead role in this film.

I wanted to create a very sensual film. You should be able as a viewer to immerse yourself into this world on screen. This is why the visuals are so important and so expressive. And this is also why the soundscape is so full of details. I created the soundscape myself adding up layers of recorded sounds and putting them together with some stock foley footage. It was great fun and felt quite intuitive. This helped as well, because I had to create the soundscape without seeing the film, so I had no clue when something happens.

The visuals, the soundscape and Alexa’s performance all contribute to the overall effect the film has when watching it. I watched it for the first time ever in Neuchâtel on a big screen and with an audience and I was super happy that it worked so well. I think it’s a film that should best be experienced in such a live environment.