Guillaume Levil, Jury of the 13th edition of the Festival du film Merveilleux

Meet Guillaume Levil, come and meet one of the jury of the 13th edition of the Festival du film Merveilleux.

Guillaume Levil grew up between Digne-les-Bains and La Réunion. These are his two cultures and what has enabled him to write and direct documentary and fiction films that have travelled all over France and abroad. A lot of his films are inspired by his origins. His short film Arthur Rambo was shot directly on Reunion Island and tells one of his childhood memories. In it, Alain is a little boy from a disadvantaged background. To earn a few coins, he recites Rimbaud poems to motorists stuck at red lights. But one day, Alain is invited to the birthday party of Guillaume, who lives in upmarket districts. It is a beautiful social fable that has won numerous awards, such as Best International Film at the Manchester Film Festival.

Some of his films are also inspired from his roots in Provence, where he likes to go back to recharge and shoot some films such as Princess of Jerusalem, selected in Drama, Sapporo, Austin, Pantin…

Guillaume likes to create comedies such as Running Naked in the Universe, but his film’s DNA is always social. His screenplays question and criticize our society. One of the most known is The Red Suitcase a short film co-written with the director Cyrus Neshvad in 2022. It tells the story of a 16-year-old Iranian woman who has just landed and is strangely terrified of leaving Luxembourg airport. This powerful and poignant story is one about a young girl who frees herself from male domination. This film was nominated for an Oscar in the Live Action Short Film category, and has been awarded in several important festivals.

Guillaume said in an interview: “It’s a film about the condition of Iranian women, something that particularly touches me because the people who have had the greatest impact on me in my life are women, including my mother. I hate injustice to women, I hate injustice to children, which is why all my films are about either childhood, youth or femininity.”

The Trousers Issue is one of his documentaries the most shared on television and followed by the media. It deals with male contraception through three men in their thirties. One is about to have a vasectomy, the other is using a reversible method and the last is still looking for the procedure that suits him best. Even if this film seems to be about a male problem, it is still a critique of the injustices done to women.

Several times during the making of the film, Guillaume was let down by men who, in the end, no longer wanted to testify. Ashamed and pressurised by a society that doesn’t want to talk about the subject. A society that sees contraception as a women’s issue.

Surprisingly, Guillaume shows us in his film that the people who feel most comfortable discussing the subject are not adults, but teenagers. They are more or less well informed, but they are questioning themselves and the part each plays in contraception. It’s a liberating documentary on a subject we’re not used to hearing about.

Guillaume Levil is a talented screenwriter and director. He makes documentaries that our society needs to open up debates. He is not afraid to talk about controversial and rooted in reality subjects, but always in a poetic or indirect way through comedy and genre. We are thankful to have him as a jury member.

His website: Guillaume Levil | Site Officiel

His Linkedln: Guillaume Levil – Scénariste réalisateur – La Boîte à Songes | LinkedIn