- 30 Oct – 01 Nov 2026
- The Rockefeller Hotel, CPT
Germain Le Carpentier is a screenwriter, director and cinematographer whose filmmaking experience spans Europe, the United States and Argentina. After initially studying graphic design, he moved into cinema and, since 2020, has focused primarily on writing and directing short films.
His early work includes a diptych exploring faith and mourning: The Beginnings (2020), which received recognition at the Brest European Short Film Festival, and The Sky Has Been Broken (2022), filmed in an active abbey and selected for the Jean Carmet Film Festival.
Le Carpentier has also contributed to the development of the film sector in one of France’s most isolated departments. It was within this context that he directed Laka (The Dugout), the first film made in Shimaoré, the island’s official language.
His hybrid documentary Haraka Haraka had its world premiere at the Champs-Élysées Film Festival. Most recently, he completed Mandzarsoa (2025), a deeply personal documentary short filmed during hurricane season in Mayotte.
What inspired the story behind your short film?
The annual tire race in Mayotte is an exceptional event. With Daniel (the producer) and Kader (technical collaborator), we had ideas that crossed path to make a creative documentary on this subject. And then came quickly the desire to tell this story (au féminin) and from the point of view of a tire, to make it a character in itself. I remember also going on the desire of a film in black, inspired by two pictures that I had for reference in the mood board, one of Sally Mann that had photographed her daughters and another one of a big tire, taken by the Japanese photographer Daidō Moriyama.
What do you hope audiences take away from your film?
An initiatory journey in a territory often forgotten but that shines by the strength of the women that make it exist.
Why are short films so important in today’s media landscape?
Within minutes, a fiction or documentary short film delivers a universal and personal message.
What advice would you give to someone making their first short film?
To have a clear idea and to keep it until the end. Because if the subject is there, the rest will be done step by step. With that, don’t give up a thing.
Why are festivals like the FAME Shorts Film Festival important for filmmakers?
Festivals in general allow great visibility and a life for several films and therefore several visions. They allow for the diversity of statements and topics. Without it, our films would not exist. The fact that a festival like FAME gives some space to so-called “African” cinema highlights a cinema that is not always precisely under the spotlight, whereas there is a deep cultural and societal desire, essential to the evolution of cinema.
