After her mother’s death, Belgian director Miléna Trivier stopped recognising faces: those of her loved ones and her own. The diagnosis was prosopagnosia, a disorder that affects 2–3% of the population. While she was losing that ability, facial recognition systems were becoming ubiquitous. This film is born of that paradox.
Through encounters with neuroscientists and artists, Yet, The Faces explores how recognition works —tied more to memory than to sight— and travels the spectrum from prosopagnosia to “super-recognisers”. What begins as an intimate experience becomes an urgent political reflection on algorithmic surveillance, biometric data and freedom in a world obsessed with identifying everything.
To convey it, Trivier —a colourist by trade— builds a visual language of her own with artist and programmer Caroline Sinders (Tate, MoMA), using 2D animation and a cast of doubles. Yet, The Faces is her first feature documentary; her work has screened at festivals such as CPH:DOX, Hot Docs and Jihlava.
Beyond co-producing the film, Artefacto develops its entire technological dimension. Explore the lab →
Director:
Miléna Trivier
Production:
Rubis Productions
Les Films d’Ici
Artefacto
Apolo Creative Solutions
Executive Producers:
Maxime Coton
Nicolas Lebecque
Anna Giralt Gris
Jorge Caballero
Pauline Blanchet
Written by:
Robin Coops
Countries of Production:
Belgium
France
Spain
North Macedonia
Pitches & Awards:
Special Mention · Best Pitch
Camp4Science – Sandbox Films
Best Pitch
Regards sur les docs
Doc Lab
RIDM – Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal
