Charlotte Ratel
Charlotte is a polymathic creative, art director, and designer with experience in building brands and leading large scale video and photo campaigns. Her work is rooted in identity design, murals, set design, graphic design, conceptual illustrations, photography, and films. Charlotte’s strong interest for concept and storytelling has brought her to teach design, film, and photography at L’École de Design de l’Université du Québec à Montréal for the Bachelor in Graphic Design. She studied graphic design at Université du Québec à Montréal and at Les Arts Décoratifs de Paris and currently lives and works in Montréal, Quebec.
Les Plages d’Agnes
French filmmaker, Agnés Varda’s autobiographical documentary exploring the memories of her life through archival footage, photographs, interviews, reenactments, and visits to various influential locations.
V:
What film has had the most impact on your practice, and how has it directly influenced your work?
CR:
Agnès Varda’s film, Les Plages d’Agnes – her entire scope of work for that matter, has stuck with me for a very long time. I like movies where props are at the forefront of the story, this one places them there metaphorically and poetically.
Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain
Amélie, a quirky Parisian girl full of innocence, decides to discretely help those around her in order to find personal happiness. Through her virtuous journey she unexpectedly discovers love.
V:
As creatives we all have influences we try to emulate and/or projects we wish we created – is there one film that you wish you made?
CR:
Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain, a movie about happiness and liberation but without the clichés. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (the director), did a great job telling the story of the small pleasures of life in a difficult world – he offers a poetic outcome to the routine of everyday life. This movie makes the ordinary extraordinary in a clever and magical way…genius!
Jurassic Park
Two paleontologists and a mathematician are selected to tour an island theme park inhabited by dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA. Their exciting trip unexpectedly goes awry when the cloned dinosaurs are let loose, leaving behind a path of destruction.
V:
This question is out of left field…if one film was played in remembrance of you at your funeral, what would it be?
CR:
Jurassic Park, because the irony is too good.