France / Switzerland, August 2025
Film, documentary, 94 min. / VOSTEN
Behind the closed doors of an extraordinary construction site, filmmaker Jean-Stéphane Bron spent four years documenting the construction in Paris of the Pathé Palace cinema, a luxury theater designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano for the group led by producer Jérôme Seydoux, one of the most influential figures in French cinema.
His documentary Le Chantier chronicles an extraordinary architectural adventure by offering a real-time portrait of a society in miniature, driven by a common goal: the construction of movie theaters for the coming century. From the architect to the master carpenters, from the construction foreman to the head of the Pathé Group, from the sound system designer to the future projectionists, the documentary paints a vivid, human-scale portrait of this community.
Le Chantier premiered in 2025 at the Locarno Film Festival and was released in theaters in the spring of 2026. This film, screened at EPFL, echoes the Double Deck construction project currently underway in plain view of everyone. It raises questions about how to tell the story of complex realities. Ultimately, it also symbolizes a world yet to be built. Following the screening, there will be a discussion with director Jean-Stéphane Bron.
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Jean-Stéphane Bron
Jean-Stéphane Bron (born 1969 in Lausanne) is a graduate of the École Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (ECAL). His documentaries address contemporary issues such as the crisis of democracy, the economic crisis, and the rise of populism, using dramatic techniques similar to those found in fiction. Among them, *Connu de nos services* (1997) addresses the scandal surrounding the political dossiers compiled by the Federal Police in the 1970s and 1980s. *Mais im Bundeshuus / Le Génie helvétique* (2003), one of Swiss cinema’s major box-office hits, follows the work of a parliamentary commission tasked with drafting a law on genetic engineering. *The Blocher Experiment* (2013) sparked intense controversy. *Cleveland vs. Wall Street* (2010), about the subprime mortgage crisis, was presented at the Cannes Film Festival (Directors’ Fortnight) and nominated for a César Award in France. His film *The Paris Opera* (2017) was subsequently widely distributed around the world. With this film, which drew more than 200,000 viewers to theaters, Jean-Stéphane Bron won the Swiss Film Award in the Best Documentary category for the third time in 2018. In 2021, Jean-Stéphane Bron released *Cinq nouvelles du cerveau*, a feature-length film that explores various mind-boggling questions related to advances in the fields of neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Between December 2021 and May 2022, he filmed the series *Ma rue de l’Ale* for RTS on his own street in Lausanne; the series was a huge hit with audiences.
Exploring reality through the eyes of those who shape it. Jean-Stéphane Bron’s unique art lies not merely in presenting the facts, but in understanding both the people involved and the systems within which they operate—systems that shape their actions.
