Whelan & Whelan :

As active supporters of the 'Association de Patrimoine de Chinon' where our creative studio is based, we have been encouraging the deployment of higher quality creative work in order to draw attention to this historically important but somewhat neglected region of France. In an increasingly visual world where exposure is everything, lesser-known towns must put their best foot forward. So when our highly talented cinematographer friend Zack Spiger got in touch saying that he had some classic Kinoptic lenses from the 50s and 60s to try out, we invited him down to the region close to our heart.

We only had a weekend to get something in the can and so we structured the shoot around a series of portraits and landscapes. We brought together an interesting cast of characters from the town of Chinon and shot them in their natural habitats, using whatever props that were available to us at the time. We then edited the film to work well with 'Quand je menais les chevaux boire' by La Poeme Harmonique, perhaps Chinon in a song. We hope that it proves the point that beautiful, timeless images can be created on a shoestring budget. Where there's a will, there's a way.