How does one make a documentary about film scripts that were never intended to be filmed? This project engages with the archive of the so-called Prix de l’image, a screenwriting competition organized between 1937 and 1939 by the surrealist visionary Henri d’Ursel. Encouraging participants to give free rein to their cinematic imagination, the contest solicited imaginary cinemas unconstrained by the commercial, material, and aesthetic logic of the industrialized film circuit. Despite its brief existence, d’Ursel’s initiative left a largely forgotten archive counting more than sixty scripts of all stripes, sharing the sole feature that they were never meant to be filmed at all.
At once offering a unique insight into the imagination of an era as well as a fascinating chapter of Belgian film history, the archive of the Prix de l’image continues to spark the contemporary imagination. This project explores possible ways of tapping into this potential. Proposing to reactivate their underlying principle — producing a virtual film with words — Raf Wollaert seeks to write a paradoxical script for a documentary about unfilmable material. This may take various forms and ultimately contemplates the relationship between technology and imagination.
