The poster as an object was born at the same time as the cinema, and as the cinema became an industry, producers and distributors appropriated it and placed it under their control.
Providing us with our first view of a film, the poster advertises it outside a theatre and tries, with varying degrees of skill, to lure the audience inside. The poster artist’s main talent is to succeed in reaching the largest number of people whilst maintaining a certain level of artistic quality, the ideal being to create a piece of art while effectively promoting the film concerned.
In 1985, the first César award for a poster was given to Michel Landi for the film Harem. But how did Landi get where he is today? Memories abound, each one a short film in its own right!
Amongst the movies that allowed him to break into the world of posters, some titles, such as “Once Upon A Time In The West”, “Duel” and “A Very Curous Girl” stand out above the rest. Like all artists, Michel Landi’s work has gone through many phases, encompassing Westerns, horror films, soft porn and opera, in keeping with public demand and, above all, that of the production companies. John Wayne, Brian de Palma, Walerian Borowczyk, Losey and Bergman have all contributed to giving him an impressive visiting card. He is known and recognized outside France. The poster for Elia Kazan’s film Dernier Nabab was distributed throughout Europe. The last James Bond film starring Sean Connery, Never Say Never Again, was distributed internationally.
Actors including Daniel Auteuil, Marie José Nat and Alain Delon, directors such as Robert Hossein, Claude Lelouch and Nelly Kaplan, producers such as Alain Sarde, his family and colleagues join together in this account to paint a portrait of an unobtrusive man who, like Jean Luc Godard, is famous amongst the industry professionals and anonymous at the same time! From the shadows to our spotlight.