“Slocum and I”, homage to childhood and ode to travel

The seventh feature film by Jean-François Laguionie tenderly delves into the director’s youthful memories.

In official competition during this 48th edition of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Slocum and me was presented at Cannes last May. A journey in line with the career of Jean-François Laguionie, winner of the Grand Prix at Annecy in 1965 and the Palme d’Or for short films at Cannes in 1978. A major figure in French animated cinema, the director of 84 years delivers with this new film an intimate story – a “little documentary of his life” –, which illuminates all of his work and opens the way to reverie. The release is scheduled for January 29, 2025.

The story : François lives with his two parents in a suburban suburb on the banks of the Marne. Eleven years old, the young boy is very lonely. He lives in a loving family but where dialogue is rare. One day, he discovers boat diagrams on his father’s desk. Without having warned anyone, the latter began the construction of the replica of the sailboat of Joshua Slocum, the first man to have circumnavigated the world alone. Life then begins to revolve around this surprising project and the dream invites itself to the door of the pavilion.

The plot of Slocum and me takes place a few years after the end of World War II. Ration tickets are still in use and landscapes pass through the windows of Citroën 2CVs. Ballroom songs musettes, Manufrance catalog…

Without melancholy, Jean-François Laguionie meticulously recreates the living environment of the time.

The family atmosphere is specific to this era too. The film contains very little dialogue. “It was a time when we didn’t talk to children,” explains the director. But far from being a silent story, it is François’ voice which, like a redistribution of speech, imposes itself through a particularly touching off-camera narration.

At the age of eleven, François talks about his daily life with humor, willingly recounts his first loves, but above all takes a child’s view of his family life. Slocum and me particularly questions paternity. A story, in short, between father and sea.

Built in the small garden of a suburban house, the boat sparks the imagination of each of the characters. François immerses himself in the world of the navy. He devours the books of Joshua Slocum, certain passages of which are inserted into the story, thus making it possible to show the sea on the screen. The simple possibility of future navigation opens the field of dreams, forges inspiration. François drew boats by the hundreds. Seventy years later, isn’t he still doing it?

More than a great epic, the film is an initiatory journey which, by exploring the genesis of his passion for the sea, sheds light on the previous achievements of Jean-François Laguionie. A tribute to childhood and a nod to family, the feature film also praises the long term, positing the journey as more important than the destination. It also highlights craftsmanship, a central part of the director’s work, whose films – although using some technology – retain the appearance of handmade drawings.

Gender : Animation, Family
Director : Jean-François Laguionie
Country : France
Duration : 1h15
With : the voices of Elias Hauter, Grégory Gadebois, Coraly Zahonero
Exit : January 29, 2025
Distribution : Gebeka Films
From the age of 8

Synopsis : At the beginning of the 1950s, on the banks of the Marne, François, a young boy of 11, discovered with interest that his parents were beginning, in the small family garden, the construction of a boat, a replica of the sailboat of the famous sailor Joshua Slocum .