Exhibitions

Exhibition linked to the Voyage, Voyage retrospective (on the theme of holidays)

Holidays!

Film posters

A burst of sunshine on celluloid! Highlighting the art of the movie poster, this exhibition invites you to set sail. Embark on a short journey through films that promise idyllic holidays, exotic travel, and carefree leisure. Poster designers celebrate this sense of freedom and escape: vibrant colors, flamboyant costumes, smiles, and exotic atmospheres come together to warm us up against the February chill.

The Reign of Images

Short films

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Lab Competition, FRAC Auvergne presents a unique exhibition, on view exclusively during the festival.

Award-winning short films and works from the FRAC collection resonate with one another here, engaging in a dialogue around an aesthetic of violence and power. Designed especially for this anniversary edition, the exhibition is conceived as an immersion into the reign of images—their force, their excesses, and their brilliance.

The following artists’ works will be presented:

• Kamel Aljafari / kamalaljafari.art
• Éric Baudelaire
• Mihai Grecu / mihaigrecu.net
• Edi Hila
• Randa Maroufi / randamaroufi.com
• Yan Pei-Ming / yanpeiming.com
• Şerban Savu
• Vincent J. Stoker / vincent-j-stoker.com

Exhibition linked to the Voyage, Voyage retrospective (on the theme of holidays)

Thelma Le Roux
Coming soon, on my way

Photographs

As part of its partnership with the Festival, the Sténopé association presents the work of Thelma Le Roux, a young photographer from Clermont-Ferrand and a student at the Clermont Métropole School of Art.

Echoing this year’s holiday-themed edition, the analog photographic series J’arrive bientôt, je suis en route (Coming Soon, On My Way) will be on view at Galerie Sténopé starting 30 January.

This project explores the idea of travel, ways of moving forward, and the place of the body, and aligns with the shared commitment of both organizations to promote emerging artists and provide their work with spaces for visibility.

“Intrigued by natural landscapes and urban compositions, I wander through the vastness of the outdoors, camera in hand. Walking triggers inner poems within me; I often struggle to remember these words, yet they are the verses that inspire me to begin capturing images. Photography, to me, is the revelation of poems that are never written. These views are taken along the way; they are fleeting, like my presence in these spaces. I follow my path—sometimes it has already been traveled, sometimes I build it myself. Whatever the trail, I move forward in my body, and I’ll be there soon, I’m on my way.”

Exhibition linked to the Voyage, Voyage retrospective (on the theme of holidays)

Kiblind – French Detours

Illustrations

Holidays – a timeless moment when we change place, time zone, routine, or simply our wake-up hour…

In keeping with the theme of this new edition, the Clermont-Ferrand Festival once again invites KIBLIND to the Mercure Hotel to present a brand-new exhibition: 44 illustrations from three Détours de France (French Detours) collections, shown in their entirety for the first time.

Take your time exploring these horizons, let yourself be guided – or led astray – by these images… Don’t worry about losing your sense of direction; the cathedral on Place de la Victoire is never far away!

True to its commitment to promoting university culture in Clermont, Crous has long been a historic partner of the festival. From the very first editions, it supported the short film weeks organized by the Clermont-Ferrand University Film Circle. Since 2003, Cnous and Crous Clermont Auvergne, in partnership with Le Court, have co-organized the student short film competition. Each year, this collaboration allows students to play a key role – as both spectators and participants – by awarding the National Student Jury Prize.

Discover two exhibitions organised in partnership with Crous Clermont Auvergne:

Exhibition linked to the Voyage, Voyage retrospective (on the theme of holidays)

Mathis Carletta – I’m Diving In

Photographs

This series of photographs captures holiday memories of Mathis Carletta with friends, before their paths diverge toward new horizons.

“Under the summer sun, hair lightened by salt, a smile on my lips, I arrive at this diving board, alone with myself. Behind me are all those I love – I can hear them. Before jumping off the board, I turn to face them.

“I wish I could say ‘see you soon,’ even if it sounds a bit like a goodbye. So I dedicate these memories to you, because these images represent for me the beauty of the moments spent by your side.”

I face the void once more, contemplating these moments as one contemplates a sunset. There is a silence here that feels like a thank you, and a light that lingers on the skin, even when everything fades. If only it could all be eternal… but I must go. So I dive.”

Mathis Carletta is a first-year student at the Clermont Métropole School of Art.

Exhibition linked to the Voyage, Voyage retrospective (on the theme of holidays)

Léo Sierra – Within a Family

Visual arts

The exhibition presents the film Silence, created for the short film competition organized by Crous Clermont Auvergne, along with the masks used in its production.

This 5-minute short takes place during a family meal and explores various intrafamilial struggles and sufferings. Here, the lack of communication is depicted as the main cause of these issues. The film is simultaneously unrealistic, through the absurdity of the scenes and masks, and grounded in reality, through its setting and subject matter.

Each mask is a caricature of the characters’ inner emotions, serving both to conceal and to reveal. The exaggerated portrayal of distress creates an unrealistic effect while intensifying the short film’s horror-like atmosphere.

Léo Sierra, a second-year student at the Clermont Métropole Higher School of Art, won first prize in the regional competition and second prize in the national competition for the Crous Clermont Auvergne short film contest in 2025 for this film.

Joël Brisse – The Garden of Olives

Paintings

Joël Brisse, born in Vichy and trained at the Fine Arts School in Clermont-Ferrand, has been painting and exhibiting for many years while also working as a filmmaker and screenwriter. Five of his films were shown in Clermont between 1998 and 2017, four of them in the national competition. Among these, Les Pinces à linge received the First Work Prize in 1998.

In 2009, Joël Brisse served on our national jury. That same year, the Roger-Quilliot Museum of Art in Clermont-Ferrand dedicated a major exhibition to him, L’Habit rouge. His work is now part of numerous public collections, including FRAC Auvergne, FNAC, MAC VAL, and the City of Paris.

Le Jardin des Oliviers (The Garden of Olives) brings together canvases in which Brisse’s dense, frontal material reveals a narrative without narration. The immobile figures seem to question their own presence, suspended in an interior space that also becomes a shared territory, shaped by memory, silence, and unease. The olive tree, a symbol of resistance and light, serves as a metaphor: a place where the image concentrates until it becomes an autonomous, fragile, and mysterious world, offering the viewer a depth that escapes all literal interpretation.