This Thursday, the pupils of the class of 3e D from the Henri-Vincenot college in Louhans met Anna Pitoun, documentary filmmaker, and Patrick Chauvel, war reporter. This day, organized by Mr.me Reichert, professor of history and geography, M. Massa, professor of plastic arts, and the librarian professors Mme Quillard et M. Doury, was initially planned for the “Week of the press and media in the school” on March 24 but had to be postponed due to the departure of Patrick Chauvel to cover the war in Ukraine.
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Between exchanges and projection of clichés
The morning was devoted to an exchange with Anna Pitoun on her documentary “Pologne aller-retour” produced in 2012, which the students had viewed beforehand. They were able to ask her questions about her profession, the reasons that led her to deal with the subject of the extermination of gypsies in Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Second World War and her impressions when she collected the testimonies of survivors. In the afternoon, Patrick Chauvel, in turn, answered the questions prepared by the students on his many photos taken during the conflicts in Angola, Vietnam, Lebanon, Northern Ireland… The students were very attentive listening, curious and impressed by the risks that war reporters take in the exercise of their profession. The day ended with the screening of photos taken in Ukraine, from where Patrick Chauvel returned three weeks ago. The striking silence of the pupils during the viewing proved the power of the images and the fact that young people feel touched by this conflict.
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Many stages
For the students, this meeting was the extension of a project in several stages. First of all the visit of the Niépce museum in Chalon-sur-Saône, where they attended a conference on the appearance, the generalization and the evolution of the technique of photography. Before discovering and analyzing a corpus of photographs on the theme of war reporting. Then, their participation in the national Resistance competition, for which they worked with the cartoonist Janpi and benefited from visits to the Louhans memory trail by Michel Debost of the ANACR (National Association of Veterans and Friends of the Resistance), before going on a school trip to Normandy for five days in March.
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