Parti en fumée
In Parti en fumée, Othmane Moumen tries to decipher the enigma of his father. Seven years ago, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer… the terminal stage. Since then, he has only one lung left. Yet his father is still here. Like an unexpected reprieve. And he continues to smoke cigarette after cigarette.
The lung is the organ of sadness for the Chinese, they say. So I ask myself… Why does he do this to himself? Why doesn’t he stop? The questions flow into my head, facing this father who doesn’t speak. Why did he migrate one day? Why doesn’t he move anymore? Why does he refuse to go back? It’s not easy to get it out of him. The modesty of fathers, you know! But I went to interview him. I recorded him. I have his voice. It’s there, in the box, ready to be used.
During a puppet workshop with Natacha Belova, Othmane Moumen builds a double of his father with his own hands, to make him speak. This time gained on death is an opportunity for him to deepen the investigation, to let his father tell his story through the puppet, quickly, before he goes up in smoke for good… Othmane Moumen delivers a touching and not without humour dialogue between a son and his father.
Short form created in 2022.
Long form created in March 2024.
Mime and physical theater genius, Othmane Moumen fades this time behind the frail figure of his father, which doesn’t hold him back from breathing his vital ernegy into it. Alongside a human size puppet which amazes by its realism, the artist has also created a tiny articulated puppet, a metaphor for this father now diminished by illness.
Catherine Makereel – Le Soir
