Original name: Sur-l’Adamant
English name: On The Adamant
Year: 2023
Run time: 109 mins
Language:French
Type (Colour/ Black & white): Colour
Country: France, Japan
Director: Nicolas Philibert
Producer: Céline Loiseau, Gilles Sacuto, Miléna Poylo
Screenplay: Nicolas Philibert
Cinematographer: Nicolas Philibert
Editor: Nicolas Philibert, Janusz Baranek
Sound Designer: Érik Ménard, François Abdelnour
Production Company: TS productions, Longride
World Sales: Les Films du Losange
Nicolas Philibert was born in 1951 in Nancy (France). After studying philosophy, he turned to film and became an assistant director, notably for René Allio, Alain Tanner and Claude Goretta. In 1978, with Gérard Mordillat, he co-directed his first documentary feature, His Master's Voice. In 2001, he directed To Be and To Have, about daily life in a "single class" school in a mountain village. Prix Louis Delluc 2002 was screened as a part of the Official Selection at the 2002 Cannes. His documentaries are frequently present at Cannes, Berlinale, Venice, Locarno, and multiple prestigious festivals, garnering him multiple awards.
The Adamant is a unique day care centre: it is a floating structure. Located on the Seine in the heart of Paris, it welcomes adults suffering from mental disorders, offering them care that grounds them in time and space, and helps them to recover or keep up their spirits. The team running it is one of those that try to resist the deterioration and dehumanisation of psychiatry as best it can. The film invites us to board it and meet the patients and caregivers who invent its life day to day.