The Typewriter and Other Headaches

La machine à écrire et autres sources de tracas

27th TIDF: Greek Premiere
The final installment of the triptych initiated by Nicolas Philibert with On the Adamant (Golden Bear at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival) and followed by At Averroes & Rosa Parks – and likely the most intimate and moving of the three – continues its deep dive into the psychiatric center of Paris. This time, the filmmaker follows resourceful caregivers as they assist patients suddenly faced with a domestic issue – a broken appliance. Behind the camera, while remaining very present, Philibert allows events to unfold naturally, as he skillfully does. Through all these objects that are repaired, it is ultimately the people and their souls that are healed. The volunteers pay attention with respect, patience, and genuine interest in everyone’s stories, needs, and worries. And they are filmed with similar care and attention. The film offers time and space for meandering conversations, internal monologues spoken out loud, unexpected guests, musical interludes, and long silences. A warm portrait and plea for compassion.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Direction: Nicolas Philibert
Cinematography: Nicolas Philibert
Editing: Nicolas Philibert
Sound: François Abdelnour, Erik Ménard, Nicolas Philibert
Production: TS Productions
Producers: Miléna Poylo, Gilles Sacuto, Céline Loiseau
Format: DCP
Color: Color
Production Country: France
Production Year: 2024
Duration: 73'
Contact: Les Films Du Losange
The film was made with the complicity of Linda De Zitter.

Nicolas Philibert

Internationally recognized director, Nicolas Philibert was born in Nancy (France) in 1951, grew up in Grenoble and has lived in Paris since the age of 20. After studying philosophy, he turned to cinema, making his first steps as an assistant director on fiction films, and soon began directing feature-length documentaries which were all theatrically released: Louvre City (1990), In the Land of the Deaf (1993), Animals (1995) or Every Little Thing (1997), which constitutes for him his first experience of filming in psychiatry. In 2002, his film To Be and To Have, which retraces the daily life of a “single-class” school in a small mountain village, presented in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, achieved immense success in France and in forty countries. It was followed by Back to Normandy (2007), Nénette (2010), La Maison de la radio (2013), and Each and Every Moment (2018) which immerses us in a nursing training institute. Filmed in the heart of the Paris central psychiatric system, his last three films – On the Adamant (Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2023), At Averroes & Rosa Parks (2024) and The Typewriter and Other Headaches (2024) - constitute a triptych in which he strives to rehabilitate the words of patients and to film places which attempt to resist the decay and dehumanization which strike psychiatry. Film after film Nicolas Philibert builds a body of work off the beaten track which combines poetry, humor, commitment, and which gives pride of place to imagination and encounters. The more we delve into his films, the more we see what unites the filmmaker and his protagonists, something like the search for a common humanity beyond the differences that separate them. The acuity of his listening makes him one of the great filmmakers of the human condition.

Filmography

1978 His Master’s Voice (co-direction)
1985 Christophe (short)
1987 Trilogy for One Man
1990 Louvre City
1992 In the Land of the Deaf
1995 Animals and More Animals
1997 Every Little Thing
1999 Who Knows?
2002 To Be and To Have
2007 Back to Normandy
2010 Nénette
2013 La Maison de la radio
2018 Each and Every Moment
2022 On the Adamant
2024 At Averroes & Rosa Parks
2024 The Typewriter and Other Headaches