Paris’s business district boasts imposing art. But who is it for?

The great arcJean Nouvel: reflectionsEvolution of ParisFive years after the warGrands canonsSerial parallelsOrgesticulanismusDafa metti (Difficult)The great malaiseSouvenir souvenirLocated west of Paris, La Défense is often called the most beautiful business district in Europe. With nearly 70 monumental works of art erected alongside its skyscrapers, the busy, opulent neighbourhood doubles as an open-air museum. In The Great Arc, the French animator Camille Authouart takes the audience on ‘a poetic and social stroll’ around La Défense, with her beautifully textured pastel animations of the district ultimately evolving into a surreal meditation on class and shared space. Authouart draws a connection between La Défense’s public art and an unhoused man she observed sleeping under the film’s titular arch and resting against Alexander Calder’s steel sculpture Araignée Rouge, noticing how they had each become invisible to rush hour commuters. Blurring boundaries between documentary, narrative and poetic storytelling, Authouart’s immersive work forms a layered examination of urban life.Director: Camille AuthouartProducers: Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre BaussaronAnimators: Mina Convers, Axel RousselotWebsite: Miyu DistributionvideoArchitectureLight, geometry and symbolism: how Jean Nouvel’s architecture reimagines culture15 minutesvideoCitiesFrom Celtic village to world capital: how Paris became Paris3 minutesvideoGender and identityTimothée built his identity around his absent father. What happens when they meet?17 minutesvideoDesign and fashionHousehold items are reborn in a ‘visual symphony of everyday objects’11 minutesvideoArchitectureA whirlwind tour of Hong Kong’s high-rises is an awesome meditation on urbanity9 minutesvideoIllness and diseaseMoved by my father: a hallucinatory animated meditation on the body in motion9 minutesvideoDemography and migrationThe hopes and fears of the migrants selling souvenirs in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower15 minutesvideoWellbeingWry animations expose the gap between anxious aspiration and real life5 minutesvideoWar and peaceWhen his grandfather won’t talk about the war, Bastien is left to his imagination15 minutes