Scopitone festival - LAb[au]

Scopitone festival

Nantes, France
taking place in September

Scopitone is a festival in Nantes, France crossing the universes of music, image artwork, live production and digital art. Since 2002 the yearly festival offers a path of artistic discovery in the heart of cultural, unordinary or emblematic venues in the city of Nantes. Resolutely transdisciplinary, the festival addresses a large and eclectic audience.The artistic director for digital art of the festival is Cedric Huchet.The festival name and focus is inspired by the 'Scopitone', a type of jukebox featuring a 16 mm film component. It was a forerunner of music video. Based on technology developed during World War II, color 16 mm film clips with a magnetic soundtrack were designed to be shown in a specially designed jukebox. The first Scopitones were made in France, among them Serge Gainsbourg's Le poinconneur des Lilas, Johnny Hollyday's "Noir c'est noir" and the "Hully Gully" showing a dance around the edge of a French swimming pool. By the end of the 1960s, the popularity of the Scopitone had faded. The last film for a Scopitone was made at the end of 1978.