Henry Colomer

In 1954, escorted by a sergeant, a French nun travels through Tonkin, spreading the good Catholic word as she goes. A mute child leads her to a remote village. Installed at a carpenter, the travelers prepare the projection material indispensable to their propaganda. At nightfall, in a storm, a group of maquisards surrounded the house. Fortunately, the carpenter is a respected man. The attackers withdraw. After a sudden rise in water, the mute child loses the precious message that had been entrusted to him by a wounded maquis...

Hugo Pratt's famous comics adventurer, Corto Maltese while sojourning in Adana, Turkey, discovers a map to the treasure of Cyrus, an ancient king of Persia. To assist him in his quest, he enlists his old friend/nemesis the unbelievable Raspoutine whom he first has to help escape from the prison of Samarkand (aka "La maison dorée de Samarkand", the golden house of Samarkand). On the long and tortured way to the riches, he encounters all kind of interesting characters, soldiers of fortune, lost British actors, and even his doppelgänger.

A César award nominated short feature.

In this poetic story, set in the late 1950s, the life of a small boy is influenced by historical events, ranging from the exploration of space to the Algerian War. His father is drafted and the boy’s cozy home changes into the cold walls of a barracks flat. His central focus becomes the world of child fantasy and imagination. The director has made an attempt at capturing the thoughts, dreams and anxieties of one child, which sets out on a journey to the centre of the Earth, while the adult hero remembering his childhood sets out on a journey to the centre of himself. The rhythm of the story flows just like a nocturne, a lyrical musical piece expressing a night mood. The director’s ambition was not to create a realistic film, but to try to transpose a child’s fantasies into images.