France Day 4
We arrive at the caves. More of a basement, but it serves as a middle ages hall. Sam and I, dressed as sailors of the time, our role is to drink wine and sing along in a trashy French song that has something to do with having sex on the toilet. There are French drinking songs and nothing makes sense, but I sing along and spill wine as I cheer. The wine pitchers are ceramic and look like a pot bellied monk, but the wine dribbles down the sides and over the monk's face, giving it a disgusting look. Amidst the chaos Sam leans over and says to me "Nothing can ever take this away from us…"
"Alzheimer's can," I briefly think.
A few hours later, we wake up in our hotel room clearly having missed dinner. We go to the Kino lab to finish editing our films. Sam edits on an unused Macintosh, except Final Cut Pro is all in French and the keyboard is rearranged. Still QWERTY, but with some of the keys moved around. We return to sleep at our hotel room at 7am.
At 10am I am woken by the presence of two French men in our room; other filmmakers. They urge us to wake up and join them for a filming in the extensive wine caverns. I protest, and Abel, the one who looks more like a Spaniard, jumps into my bed and starts humping me. I borrowed a power cable from him last night, which he threatened to "burn me with his pee" if I forgot to return, I guess he is very comfortable with me now. He jumps out of my bed, pleading me again to wake up and join them. He drops the back of his pants and starts singing Britney Spears songs in broken English, Sam is already getting dressed.
We arrive in the caverns and a German man that looks more like Charles Manson is there dressed as Jesus. This is the final scene of the movie. We beat a man to death and eat him alive as Jesus dances to techno music. We leave for lunch at the Kino lab.
Dinner is the same as lunch. Tabulie, chicken, bread, assorted cheese and wine. At the table, we decide what hostile we will spend the next few days between Kabarets in. We will be joined by the rest of the English-as-a-first-language-ers. A guy from Sydney and a guy from Manchester.
We leave, as it is time for the screening. It takes place in an old church hall that I don't think is used for religion anymore. The number of viewers is in the hundreds.
Right now, we are at Les Café Francois. Before that we were at La Hazard. As artist of the Kabaret, we get access to the bars of Chinon past closing time. Sam is hitting on a girl named Pascal that he will not get. I am writing this on a copy of the Excentrique Festival flier (the festival that the Kabaret is a part of). The table I am sitting at has a painting of a mysterious French woman with eyes like a cold winter day. No one in this room has eyes like that.
I have been taking photos all day. Pictures of rooftops and winding stairways, the many cats that roam the alleys of Chinon and the people. I get people to pose, hold hands, and walk in courtyards. I plan to make several photocollages of what I see in my head when I look at this place we are in. I may even make a photo animation of some of it. I look over at my mostly empty pint of Guinness and decide I need another. I look over at Sam who has an entire bottle of wine to himself. We will have to pack before I go to bed tonight, but won't. It is almost 3am and the bar will be closing soon.
At close, we gather outside the bar and go to the Kino lab where Karim has a surprise for us. Several magnum bottles of Chinon wine, bread, and a selection of cheese. We all go in the pitch blackness with our treasure and gather by the river near our hotel. We eat and drink and stumble in the dark. Louis passes around a bottle of Rum from the West Indies, someone else passes a bottle of Cognac witch is disagreeable to the man from Manchester. After awhile, I leave, taking the long, bulky gate key to the hotel from Sam, leaving the gate open for him. I settle into bed and can still hear them outside by the river, carrying on. I let this sound guide me to sleep, and I dream.
"Alzheimer's can," I briefly think.
A few hours later, we wake up in our hotel room clearly having missed dinner. We go to the Kino lab to finish editing our films. Sam edits on an unused Macintosh, except Final Cut Pro is all in French and the keyboard is rearranged. Still QWERTY, but with some of the keys moved around. We return to sleep at our hotel room at 7am.
At 10am I am woken by the presence of two French men in our room; other filmmakers. They urge us to wake up and join them for a filming in the extensive wine caverns. I protest, and Abel, the one who looks more like a Spaniard, jumps into my bed and starts humping me. I borrowed a power cable from him last night, which he threatened to "burn me with his pee" if I forgot to return, I guess he is very comfortable with me now. He jumps out of my bed, pleading me again to wake up and join them. He drops the back of his pants and starts singing Britney Spears songs in broken English, Sam is already getting dressed.
We arrive in the caverns and a German man that looks more like Charles Manson is there dressed as Jesus. This is the final scene of the movie. We beat a man to death and eat him alive as Jesus dances to techno music. We leave for lunch at the Kino lab.
Dinner is the same as lunch. Tabulie, chicken, bread, assorted cheese and wine. At the table, we decide what hostile we will spend the next few days between Kabarets in. We will be joined by the rest of the English-as-a-first-language-ers. A guy from Sydney and a guy from Manchester.
We leave, as it is time for the screening. It takes place in an old church hall that I don't think is used for religion anymore. The number of viewers is in the hundreds.
Right now, we are at Les Café Francois. Before that we were at La Hazard. As artist of the Kabaret, we get access to the bars of Chinon past closing time. Sam is hitting on a girl named Pascal that he will not get. I am writing this on a copy of the Excentrique Festival flier (the festival that the Kabaret is a part of). The table I am sitting at has a painting of a mysterious French woman with eyes like a cold winter day. No one in this room has eyes like that.
I have been taking photos all day. Pictures of rooftops and winding stairways, the many cats that roam the alleys of Chinon and the people. I get people to pose, hold hands, and walk in courtyards. I plan to make several photocollages of what I see in my head when I look at this place we are in. I may even make a photo animation of some of it. I look over at my mostly empty pint of Guinness and decide I need another. I look over at Sam who has an entire bottle of wine to himself. We will have to pack before I go to bed tonight, but won't. It is almost 3am and the bar will be closing soon.
At close, we gather outside the bar and go to the Kino lab where Karim has a surprise for us. Several magnum bottles of Chinon wine, bread, and a selection of cheese. We all go in the pitch blackness with our treasure and gather by the river near our hotel. We eat and drink and stumble in the dark. Louis passes around a bottle of Rum from the West Indies, someone else passes a bottle of Cognac witch is disagreeable to the man from Manchester. After awhile, I leave, taking the long, bulky gate key to the hotel from Sam, leaving the gate open for him. I settle into bed and can still hear them outside by the river, carrying on. I let this sound guide me to sleep, and I dream.
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