KEEP A MODEST HEAD
A surreal journey through the capricious mind of Jean Benoît — the last French Surrealist
“Jean Benoît, the last official member of the French Surrealist group, receives Deco Dawson’s signature visual treatment in a biography that fantastically illustrates Benoit’s formative (and highly sexual) childhood memories. Mixing interviews recorded in Benoît’s Parisian studio with Surrealist-inspired re-enactments, Dawson deconstructs documentary conventions to eulogize a formidable artist.”
Alex Rogalski, TIFF 2012
Born in Quebec City in 1922 Jean Benoît spent his highly formative childhood years perched upon his neighbors’ rooftops peering in on their nightly ablutions.
He moved to Montreal and taught at the L’ecole des beauxs-arts until 1947 when he initiated a riot among his students, imploring them to protest the conservative and religious history of art in Quebec. This riot would become the impetus for the Manisfeste Prisme d'Yeux and the Refus Global movement in Quebec. Benoît was quickly fired from the school and along with his expelled student and soon-to-be wife Mimi Parent, he permanently moved to Paris.
Click here for an interactive Benoît page with images and videos
In 1959 Benoît met Andre Breton and was officially invited to join the Surrealist movement, which at this point was regaining strength for what would be its final phase of global reputation.
A naturally born iconoclast, a lover of life and a life filled with lovers, Jean Benoît was truly an inspired artist with the deviance of an alley cat. An extroverted recluse with a boisterous laugh and tender personality, Benoît repeatedly rejected the grand spotlight and rarely allowed his work to be showcased. Today most of his work is still owned by only a handful of collectors.
Jean Benoît was like no other artist, his meticulously crafted and highly sexual art is both as technically and characteristically unparalleled as the man himself.
An Endstop and Elsewhere Production
&
Microclimat Films co-Production
Produced with the generous assistance of:
The Canada Council for the Arts
The National Film Board (ACIC program)
The Manitoba Arts Council
Manitoba Film and Music
bravoFACT
The Winnipeg Film Group
The Winnipeg Arts Council
Additional funding provided by:
On Screen Manitoba
“If there's any film that stands out from the pack at Short Cuts Canada, its this look at French Surrealist artist Jean Benoît. Dawson brings a trippy visual approach to his interview with Benoît, who displays a crass charm you have to see to truly appreciate. Much like the Surrealist art Benoît is known for, the film itself is a brilliant piece of creative expression that remains with you long after the credits.”
David Silverberg - Digital Journal
“Deco Dawson's Keep a Modest Head steals the show here with a visually stunning look at the "life" of late French Surrealist Jean Benoît... blending live action, impeccable green screen work, haunting animation and a picture-in-picture mise en scene that creates a psychosexual dreamlike state that few other shorts can achieve in the same period of time.”
Andrew Parker - Dork Shelf
“Deco Dawson's Keep a Modest Head is a film that expands the boundaries of documentary, one that perfectly reflects its surreal subject.”
Reg Harkema - TIFF 2012 Shorts Jury President
“Although there were many great films to discuss and debate, ultimately there was one film that the jury unanimously felt was particularly worthy of receiving the Best Documentary Short award. For its brilliantly surrealistic imagining of the life of the last of the surrealists.... Keep a Modest Head”
Seattle International Film Festival: Jury Statement
“Dawson has developed a signature visual style that's impossible to duplicate.”
Nicholas Frisen - Uptown Magazine
“I definitely commend (Deco Dawson) for his commitment to highlighting the life of Jean Benoît and creating such a visually interesting and experimental way to translate Benoît's life to screen. Hearing Benoît talk about his life in his own words partnered with a visually surrealist way of telling it is incredibly groundbreaking”
Kindah - Press +1
“Dawson does a nice job of creating a warped space, this time in Benoît's recreated childhood home, which houses wall portraits that turn into screens, and women who mysteriously appear in various states of undress as per Benoît's overactive imagination.”
Angelo Muredda - Torontoist.com
“Deco Dawson's Keep a Modest Head is an amazing work, he's an exquisite stylist.”
Allison Gilmore - CBC Radio