TOUT LE MONDE ATTEND LE MAILLOT JAUNE

is a four-episode documentary-series about the spectators of the TOUR de FRANCE in the countryside.

series trailer

The Tour de France has always been far more than a sports event. From the very beginning on it has highlighted the beautiful french landscapes and the people living there. In a world of increasing urban-rural divide, the look into a world that metropolitans have difficulties to imagine and find very desirable at the same time, is exciting in many ways. "Tout le monde attend le maillot jaune" focusses precisely on that. In order to keep things lively the concept for the shoot was to leave things open to chance, no appointmens were made beforehand. All protagonists were found at the side of the road.

-> WATCH THE WHOLE SERIES

THE EPISODES

1/4 Cumières/Baulne-en-brie (Champagne)

We started our adventure in Baulne-en-Brie, where we spent our first night in Reynald Dubus' Auberge de l'Omois. We found Reynald so authentic that we began our shoot the next morning with him and his charming hotel. We then moved on to Cumières, a little village that was crossed by the Tour de France on the 3rd stage from Binche (Belgium) to Épernay at the Marne river in the Champagne region. Cumières is completely surrounded by vineyards producing delicious champagne. When capturing the special magic of a village without any traffic we were invited to join the friedly gathering of neighbours on the terrace of champagne-maker Vadin Plateau. There we got some interstings insights into the field of winemaking. In the afternoon we approached the people waiting in the vinewards for the arrrival of the riders at a pretty steep and picturesque ascent to the village of Hautvillers.

-> WATCH EPISODE 1

Links: Offical website of Cumières, Champagne Vadin Plateau, hotel Auberge de l'Omois, website of Hautvillers.


2/4 SAINT-Amand-sur-Fion (Champagne)

We then moved on into the eastern part of the champagne region, which is known for its endless wheat fields. On the 4th stage of the Tour de France between Reims and Nancy we found a charming little village called Saint-Amand-sur-Fion. It was touching to see how people, from the early morning on, slowly started to gather at the sides of the closed main road. Even though it was hours before the riders would pass, they curiously came out of their houses. For us that was the perfect situation to get to know them and talk to them about their expectations, their hobbies and their life in general. We spoke to the mayor and were allowed to shoot in the bakery Le Fournil de Saint-Amand, that was experiencing one of his busiest days in the year. Whereas in the other episodes for the passage of the riders the people progressively moved out of their village and into the nature here people stayed where they were, which gives this episode a nice unity of time and space.

-> WATCH EPISODE 2

Links: Official website of Saint-Amand-sur-Fion, Saint-Amand sur Google Maps, bakery "Le Fournil de Saint-Amand"


3/4 Ammerschwihr (Alsace)

The 5th stage of the Tour de France, leading from Saint-Dié-des-Vosges to Colmar, brought us into the Alsace close to the german border. There are plenty of beautiful villages in the area, but on recommendation at our stay for the night, the hotel "Chez Roger Hassenforder", we headed to Ammerschwihr the next morning. The speciality about Ammerschwihr, next to Colmar, is that is has a very high densitiy of wine-growers among its inhabitants. And many of the wine-growing families there also produce their own wine, which has become less common in modern wine-making world. And of course they are very proud of the Grand-Cru produced here, the "Kaefferkopf", which is grown on one of the best locations in France. But in this traditionally men's business we wanted to find a woman working as a wine-grower. We were successful: the very sympathetic Josiane Griss spontaneously open her cave for us, invited us to a wine-tasting and told us how she became what she became. Following the racetrack into the beautiful vineyards we met an aspiring cycling athelete, an alsacian family of only women, austrian visitors adoring the biodiversity, three british Tour de France lovers in front of their camping-cars, and the mayor of Ammerschwihr even twice.

-> WATCH EPISODE 3

Links: Official website of Ammerschwihr, Ammerschwihr on Google Maps, Winemaker Josian Griss, the location of the Grand-Cru "Kaefferkopf"


4/4 THANN (VOSGES)

The 6th stage of the Tour de France lead from Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles in the Vosges. For this day we chose Thann as our spot. Unfortunatelly we didn't happen to see much of the small city, because we stumbled over two fantastic protagonists with which we spend a couple of hours. Serge Mannheim and Jacques Kreider of Cycles Mannheim run a very well-sorted bike shop in Vieux-Thann, and Serge Mannheim also manufactures hand-made bikes in his workshop. Especially for sophisticated customers with slightly off-norm body measures. We learned how he became bike-maker, what role cycling plays in the Vosges region and how new trends are about to change important parts of the market. After that we followed him to the place next to the race track where most of the locals were gathering. A place, only accessibly by foot, right in the middle of the woods where the riders had to pass on their way up to the Col du Hundsruck. We spoke to a man who was there with his grand-daugther and a young football team was singing hymns long before the arrival of the riders. The fact that everybody had to came by foot made it particularly peaceful and made people also stay a little bit longer than in other places we have been.

-> WATCH EPISODE 4

Links: Official website of Thann, Cycles Mannheim, the Col du Hundsruck

team



"Tout le monde attend le maillot jaune" is written and directed by Andreas Scheffer. Andreas Scheffer is a german filmmaker, who has studied film directing in Toulouse (E.N.S.A.V.) and Potsdam-Babelsberg (Film University). For the German Televison ZDF he has followed the Tour de France eight times. He is working in feature, documentary and commercial filmmaking and is fluent in english and french.

The Cinematography was provided by Gernot Bayer. Gernot Bayer is a trained photographer and has studied cinematography at the Film University Potsdam-Babelsberg.

The original music by Tal Yadin. Tal Yadin is a Berlin based israelian musician and composer, who creates music, plays and performs with various groups over a broad spectrum of musical genres.

"Tout le monde attend le maillot jaune" is a production of DAS GUTE WERK Bewegtbild in Berlin.

contact

Andreas Scheffer
andreasscheffer [at] gmx.de
+49 160 91706428