Deligny’s practice of using the camera goes back to the time of La Grande Cordée network, a pedagogical and itinerant collectivity for the reception of young delinquents. At the time, in the 1950s, Deligny and the others were thinking of making a film about this collective, and the camera was an occasion to create a group that was both cohesive and self-managed (where some teach others how to handle the camera, create scenes, write mini-scripts, act, etc.), all more or less directed by Deligny and other educators. But it was only years later that Deligny would manage to finish his first film.Between 1962 and 1965, Deligny, Josée Manenti and others accompanied and filmed the young psychotic Yves Guignard in his wanderings in the Cévennes. The images would only be edited in 1970 by Jean-Pierre Daniel and would become the experimental film Le moindre geste. At the time of the Cévennes network, the use of cameras were a constant and, together with maps, were used in the registration of daily life. In particular, super 8 cameras were used to film images intended for the children’s parents. Deligny also participated in this period in the making of three films: Ce gamin, là, À propôs d’un film à faire (directed by Renaud Victor) and Projet N (directed by Alain Cazuc), as well as writing numerous other film projects.
Excerpts of the documentary Ce gamin, là [ That boy, there ]
Director: Renaud Victor
Script: Renaud Victor and Fernand Deligny
Photography: Richard Copans
Production: Les Films du Carrosse – Renn Productions – Reggane Films – Les Productions de la Guéville – Stephan Films – Filmanthrope – INA – Orly Films. Released in 1976.
Length: 95 minutes