All That Remains 2011
Two trips. Two legends. Four crossed destinies.


 

This is the official website for the 2011 film, All That Remains.
Content is from the site's 2011 archived pages as well as from other sources.

Two trips. Two legends. Four crossed destinies. In Japan, Nakata takes the road to resign. He meets Ellen, a mysterious young woman who is looking to leave Tokyo. Together, they descend the east coast towards the Umikongo rocks. Ben, Ellen's brother, goes up the west coast of the United States to the cliffs of Big Sur. He meets Sarah, who is hitch-hiking from Las Vegas to rebuild her life elsewhere. The road passes and Ellen's health deteriorates. On the other side of the ocean, Ben seems to be doing a ritual trip. Links are woven between the two trips .

 

Quartz 2011 Winner "Best Actress" | Isabelle Caillat

Best Music Winner at Annonay's First Anniversary Film Festival 2012 | Composing Nicolas Rabaeus

Festivals | Raindance 2011 (UK) | Filmfest München 2011 (DE) | Cinequest 2011 (USA) | Solothurn Film Days 2011 (CH) | FIFF Namur (BE) | Fünf Seen Film Festival 2011 (DE) | First Annonay Film Festival 2012 (FR)

Domestic release (CH) | October 26th, 2011

 

SYNOPSIS

Four people — bound by the common thread of a deeply personal loss — take to the road at a pivotal moment in their lives, hoping to move ahead. Along the way they unexpectedly intersect with one another — the result of which forever alters their understanding of brotherhood, friendship, and love.

In Japan, Nakata resigns from a life-long career behind a desk to start the life he’s dreamed of for 30 years. He meets Ellen, a mysterious but endearing Westerner looking for a ride out of Tokyo. Together they make the drive southeast towards the fabled coast of Umikongo…

Across the ocean Ellen’s brother Ben is heading North along the California coast on a mysterious quest. Along the way he picks up Sara, a spirited hitchhiker from Las Vegas who’s searching for a new life after a troubling marriage. Together they make their way to the mystical cliffs of Big Sur where Ben must complete his task…

On both sides of the ocean, the uneasy relationship between strangers evolves. Ellen’s health deteriorates; Ben performs a ritual by the sea. As the road unfolds, their fates collide. 
 

      

ALL THAT REMAINS is the first feature length by Swiss emerging directors Pierre-Adrian Irlé (25 years old) and Valentin Rotelli (27 years old). As with their previous short-film BIG SUR (33’, 2008), nominated for Swiss Academy Awards Quartz© in 2009, the directors did a nomadic and chronological shooting. They worked closely with the actors to have them improvising under their guidance, revealing the script to them day after day along the road throughout the shooting. With a solid preparation based on the respective biographies of their characters, the actors evolved within the boundaries of the story that was written.

 



An interview with Pierre-Adrian Irlé and Valentin Rotelli, directors of All That Remains at the 19th Raindance Film Festival

 

DIRECTORS' STATEMENT

ALL THAT REMAINS depicts the story of four characters at pivotal turning points in their lives. The road and its changing landscapes - from the chaos of Los Angeles and Tokyo to the wilderness of the Pacific coast - mirrors the inner lives of the characters as they journey toward compelling moments of insight about their lives.

In the tradition of directors like Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Abdellatif Kechiche and Sofia Coppola, we employed a very personal process in the making of ALL THAT REMAINS that leads to what we believe to be a unique story telling process. As an exploration beyond traditional filmmaking, we continued here a method of working with the actors that we initiated in our earlier short films. The goal was to articulate the most intimate nuances in the characters by capturing their performances in physical and emotional conditions as close to real life as possible. Our intention was to erase any trace of self-consciousness in the dialogue, and to foster the most natural approach to acting possible.

To reach this goal we shot the scenes chronologically and - in keeping with a real life road trip - parceled out our story to the actors scene by scene on a daily basis. This allowed the performers to discover the plot in much the same way we encounter real life. Like the audience, the actors themselves had no idea where the film was going, and as such their true day-to-day emotions mixed with that of the characters we were building. This quest for spontaneity was further made possible by empowering the actors with their character profiles months in advance. This allowed for a deeply personal investigation and time to incorporate background details that aligned more closely with the performers' own emotional lives. It also gave the actors an opportunity to contribute to the story through improvisation. Together, we combined our vision of the story with their own discoveries, resulting in the final narrative. 

Contemplative, spontaneous, though structured and character driven, we believe ALL THAT REMAINS truly reflects our ambition to explore our characters in a deeply intimate way as they traveled through some of the most sensitive moments we encounter in our lives.


Pierre-Adrian Irlé & Valentin Rotelli

 

REVIEWS

Le Temps
" [...] All That Remains creates a rare emotion with not much: or how two parallel stories, hitchhiking journeys puting together improbable couples, one in Japan and the other in the US, interlace one another. Here, it seems that giving a hand from one shore to another would be enough for the ocean to shrink [...] "
Thierry Jobin | Le Temps

Langenthaler Tagblatt
" [...] With  All That Remains  by Pierre-Adrian Irlé and Valentin Rotelli from Geneva, theSolothurn Film Festival has unearthed a gem. The poetic film is about two trips along opposite shores of the Pacific ocean. [...] "
Serge Kuhn | Langenthaler Tagblatt

TSR evening news
Laurence Mermoud

RSR (Radio Suisse Romande)
Wrapping up the Solothurn Film Days: " [...] the films that drew attention are 'All That Remains' by Pierre-Adrian Irlé and Valentin Rotelli, the comedy 'Opération Casablanca', 'Manipulation' and the documentary 'Mit dem Bauch durch die Wand' . [...] "
ATS news

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

CAST

Ellen Isabelle Caillat
Nakata Toshi Toda
Ben Travis Shakespeare
Sarah Olga Rosin

Isabelle Caillat
Isabelle Caillat was born in New-York and grew up in Geneva, Switzerland. She made her first steps in the theater as a child and later entered the Stella Adler Studio in New York, training with great teachers like James Tripp, Mark Hammer and Tom Oppenheim. She also took classes with Ron Burrus and Debra Aquila in Los Angeles. As a young actress in NY, she worked in modest yet enriching stage and film productions, before returning to Geneva.

Isabelle Caillat in All that remains of P.-A. Irlé and Valentin Rotelli

Isabelle Caillat in All that remains by P.-A. Irlé and Valentin Rotelli [- Jumps Cut Productions]

 

On stage, she has worked with great talents like Alain Carré, Lilo Baur (member of the famous London based company “Complicite”), and Jacques Roman, exploring a diversity of authors like Corneille, Chekhov, Wilde, Ibsen, as well as contemporary playwriting. For her performance in ELVIRE JOUVET 40, Critics have described her as “a Renoir heroin, conveying a mixture of clarity and dramatic vibration, with an outstanding presence” (Le Temps).

On screen, Isabelle has worked with movie directors like Jacob Berger in 1 JOURNEE and Xavier Ruiz in VERSO, partnering up with European actors like Bruno Todeschini, Laurent Lucas, and Sagamore Stévenin. She most recently held the lead role in a twenty-episode Swiss TV dramatic comedy T’ES PAS LA SEULE (Swissperform Awards nominee: “best actress”).

Her collaboration with Pierre-Adrian and Valentin started with the short film 961, and continues now with ALL THAT REMAINS.

Toshi Toda

Toshi Toda was born in Tokyo, Japan. He began his career as a modern and Jazz dancer before becoming an actor at the famous Gekidan Shiki Acting Company. In 1974, he moved from Tokyo to New York and was invited to act in numerous theater and Broadway plays and over 50 TV commercials. Among other assignments, he performed for the late Tony and Academy Award-winning director Arthur Penn on the National Tour of SLY FOX with Jackie Gleason and Cleavon Little. Toshi also starred in the Broadway musical ANYTHING GOES at the Lincoln Center with Patti Lupone, which ran for 2 years and earned a Tony Award for “best revival of a musical.”

After the show was closed, he moved to Hollywood and worked in films such as LETTERS OF IWOJIMA, CRANK, JUST MARRIED and PEARL HARBOUR among others. On TV, Toshi appeared in shows such as CHUCK, FLASHFORWARD, and ENTOURAGE among others.

ALL THAT REMAINS allowed Toshi to perform for the first time in his native Japan since he left in 1974.

    

FILMMAKERS

Pierre-Adrian Irlé

Emerging Swiss director and producer Pierre-Adrian Irle was born in Seattle in 1984 to Swiss parents. He was raised near the Alps in Geneva. 

Having studied, worked and traveled in more than 25 countries across 4 continents, Pierre-Adrian draws on vast multicultural inspiration as he strives to explore original narratives without borders. His directorial experience was acquired alongside pursuing higher education and working as a specialized economist in media industries, which has naturally allowed him to develop his skills as a producer as well. 

As a director, his short films have won numerous awards and have been screened internationally in festivals. He received a Quartz Swiss Academy Award nomination for Best Short Film in 2009 with BIG SUR. ALL THAT REMAINS, which he also produced, is his first feature film. 

 

Valentin Rotelli

 

Born in 1983 and raised in Geneva, Valentin Rotelli grew up in a family active in the Swiss TV and film industry for two generations—his grandfather a producer and recognized film critic, his mother a film editor. 

He naturally found his role in the industry by working as a director and film editor since 2004. Two years later he started a family company, covering post-production for major fiction and documentary projects. As an editor, he worked with local talents in Switzerland such as Elena Hazanoy, Bruno Deville and Eileen Hofer, whose film RACINES earned him an editing prize at Larissa Film Festival in 2009.  

His short films have won numerous awards and have been screened internationally in festivals. With his fellow co-director Pierre-Adrian Irlé, he received a Quartz Swiss Academy Award nomination for Best Short Film in 2009 with BIG SUR and directed ALL THAT REMAINS, is his first feature film. 

 

CREDITS

Direction and scenario | Pierre-Adrian Irlé & Valentin Rotelli

Casting | Isabelle Caillat, Toshi Toda, Travis Shakespeare, Olga Rosin

Photography | Valentin Rotelli

Music | Nicolas Rabaeus

Editing | Véronique Rotelli

Sound | Benjamin Benoit

Production manager / Japan | Michiko Zentoh

Associate producer / Japan | Tanno Masato

Producer | Pierre-Adrian Irlé

Co-producers | Freddy Landry, Philippe Berthet (RTS), Françoise Mayor (RTS), Travis Shakespeare

Production | Jump Cut Production

Co-production | RTS, Big On movies

Support | City of Geneva, Loterie Romande, Régio Films Fund, State of Geneva (DIP), Canton of Neuchâtel, Federal Office of Culture (OFC)

Domestic Distributor | Agora Films (Switzerland)

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SCREENINGS

[F] = Filmmakers in attendance - [A] = Actors in attendance


 Upcoming screenings

 
 November      13            Arras Film Festival | Arras, FR | [F] 

 October         30            Theatrical opening | Fribourg, CH | [F] [A]

 October         28            Theatrical opening | Vevey, CH | [F] [A]

 October         27            Theatrical opening | Lausanne, CH | [F] [A]

 October         26            Theatrical opening | Geneva, CH | [F] [A] 

 October         23            Theatrical opening | Neuchâtel/Chaux-de-Fonds, CH | [F] [A]
 
 October     21/25           Dialogue of Culture IFF | New-York, USA | [F] [A]

 
 Past screenings

 
 2011


 October          1            Raindance Film Festival | London, UK | [F]

 September     9             Fête du cinéma Romand | Sainte-Croix, CH | [F]

 August         2/3/4         Fünfsee Filmfestival | 5 lakes region, Bavaria, DE | [F]

 June/July     30+2         München Filmfest | Munich, DE | [F] 
 
 March          5-6-8         Cinequest | San Jose (CA), USA | [F] [A]

 January       24-27         Journées de Soleure | Solothurn, CH | [F] [A]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AllThatRemains-Movie.com