Roger Gobron - Belgian Painter 1899-1985

  Film: "Portrait of my father watercolourist"

 

The son of the painter, the independent filmmaker Jean-Noël Gobron, shot this documentary about his father between 1977 and 1985. Thanks to a small subsidy it was finally terminated in 1987. The film attended national and international film festivals and was awarded four times. It was also shown on several television channels and continues to be broadcasted today.


DVD

A DVD is available of the film Portrait of my father watercolourist which also contain the more recently produced Portrait of my mother poet, a feature documentary about the spouse of the painter, the poet Marie-Jo Gobron (1916-2008). Read more »


Synopsis

The father through the eye of the son, the painter through the eye of the filmmaker.

The picture rewrites in a very subjective way the life of Roger Gobron - born in 1899 in Brussels - who, through his pictorial research, succeeded in giving watercolours a new dimension.

"In Belgium, artists are evaluated according to the price of their paintings", Baudelaire wrote in 1864. It has not changed much. Faced with complete "official" indifference, my father painted his watercolours. One day, he wrapped up a painting to send it to an important art competition. Soon after, the parcel came back and while checking it very carefully, my father realized that it had not been opened.

I made this film to make a stand for my father's work. I wanted to pay tribute to this simple and generous man who searched and painted watercolours his whole life. The making of the film gave me the opportunity to know and understand my father much better. But this work lead me to deeper introspection. By searching my parents' life I rediscovered my own existence.


Crew

Screenplay, direction & production: Jean-Noël Gobron
Continuity & assistance: Isabelle Chiaramonti
Photography: Jean-Noël Gobron
Camera assistant: Anne Ledent
Sound: Richard Verthé
Interviews: Benoit Boelens
Editing: Monique Rysselinck
Sound mixing: Gérard Rousseau
Grading: Roger Vervoenen



 


Roger Gobron and his son Jean-Noël
Roger Gobron and his son Jean-Noël in 1980, during the shooting of the film.
Photo: Isabelle Chiaramonti.

Info

Documentary film
Duration: 36 minutes (at 24 fps)
Original version: French
Subtitles: English (video version only)
Film stock: Kodak colour negative
Aspect ratio: 4 x 3 (1:1.37)
Formats: 16 mm (optical sound), HDCAM, Betacam digital & SP
All other formats available on demand
Audio: Mono
Production & Sales: Alcyon Film
Belgium 1987

Postproduction grant from the Belgian Ministry of the French Community.

 

Prices

- GRAND PRIZE of the "Ministre de la Région Wallonne" / Média 10-10
- SABAM PRIZE awarded at the Short film competion of the Brussels Film Festival
- PRIZE OF THE BEST DOCUMENTARY at the International Film Festival of Mons
- SPECIAL MENTION OF THE JURY awarded at the Short Film Festival of Lille (France)


Press articles about the film

Dutch press articles


 

French press articles

Photographs

Photographs of the film
Package of 5 illus. (1 MB)

 

Photographs of the shooting
Package of 5 illus. (1 MB)



For the complete list of all available documents, please go to the Downloads page.


 

 

 

 

 

VHS

DVD

 

VHS cassette (36 min.) & DVD (95 min.)

Available on VHS (Pal) & DVD (the DVD also includes the film "Portrait of my mother poet").
Worldwide delivery. Send us an email (see Contact) to order, or to inquire about the shipping charges for your country.

In France, the DVD is available at Espace d'Art Roger Gobron.

 
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Tech Data

Click on the illustration to enlarge

 

Technichal sheet of the film

Use this link to download the technical sheet in Adobe Acrobat pdf (328 KB).

 
 
 

Press, Television, Festivals

Use also Contact to inquire about a video master for television broadcastings, a film copy in 16mm and all other issues concerning the film of Gobron's work.