By Blood
Guillaume Enard and Jonathan Delerue
Once a ruthless war lord who won his land by his sword, Mort-Lieu is now a sick old man. A mysterious knight appears ; Mort-Lieu believes the stranger is Death himself coming to get him. Facing his own end, Mort-Lieu has to confront his legacy.
Director Biography – Guillaume Enard, Jonathan Delerue
GUILLAUME ENARD – Director.
Born in Paris, Guillaume studies filmmaking at the Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle, where he directs his first short Correction starring the famous French actor Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu.
After graduating, he spends the next 10 years working as editor and sound editor on several TV series and feature films such as L’Affaire Dreyfus, Jean Moulin, Dieu Que les Femmes Sont Amoureuses or Una Pura Formalita, collaborating with such famous French directors as Yves Boisset, Magali Clement or Guiseppe Tornatore.
In 2004, Guillaume becomes a full time script writer. He writes, adapts for the screen and supervises the writing of many TV properties such as Marvel’s Iron Man, Casper, Spirou et Fantasio, Invisible Man, Le Marsupilami, Baskup Tony Parker, Trolls of Troy, Plankton Invasion, Mini Ninjas, My Giant Friend, etc.
Meanwhile he directs Brumes, awarded at the L.A. Screamfest Horror Film Festival and the Ravenna Nightmare Film Festival, and broadcasted many times on Universal’s network 13ème Rue. Then, Guillaume writes several feature films such as the monster movie Unleashed and the animated feature Kitty. Then, Guillaume develops the dystopian TV Series Asile – Le Monde d’Après with Room 237, the supernatural adventure drama Desolacion with producer Michel Ruben and director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego. Following that, Guillaume also adapts as a TV Series the English thriller best-seller Until You’re Mine for the production company Banijay.
Presently, Guillaume is finishing writing the comedy En Vert et Contre Tous for Tigerfish production company. Now that his new short Par le Sang is completed, he’s beginning to develop his feature film projects with his co-director Jonathan Delerue.
JONATHAN DELERUE – Director
Graduate of the Emile Cohl School of Art in 2004, Jonathan hones his skills as a storyboard artist working for the most part on the “French Frayeurs” film collection such as Frontière(s), Mutants, La Traque and Vertiges.
Rapidly, Jonathan lends his pen and talent to prestigious French production companies, working frequently with Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp (Colombiana, Taken 2, Taken 3, 3 Days to Kill, and the forthcoming Koursk…), Dimitri Rassam’s Chapter 2 (Gibraltar, Paradise Lost), academy award winner Thomas Langman (Vanikoro), Alain Goldman’s Légende Films (La French, HHhH), Jericho Films (Radin, Rémi Sans Famille), and also Why Not Productions’ Jackie… He just completed storyboarding Alain Chabat’s Santa & Cie, and Jean-François Richet’s L’Empereur de Paris…
Currently, Jonathan is moving on to making films with his short Par le Sang, which is the spearhead project to be followed with feature films with his co-writer and co-director Guillaume Enard.
Director Statement
As filmmakers we are fascinated with The Dark Ages. Back then, human life was worthless, social and politic life were based on inequality and absolutely devoid of ethics and morals as we understand them today. The right to be, to bear your name and to breath to the venerable age of 40 are the main rewards of a daily fight. Death, also known as La Carnade in France, is one reality that everyone share : Peasants, Kings, Soldiers, Men of God and Heretics as well. The weakest fights a losing battle while the strongest finds in Death a way to rise socially. Our main character, the Lord of Mort-Lieu is one of the latter. Born an illegitimate child, he won his name and his land by his sword. Angry and revengeful, resolved to prove his worth, Mort-Lieu is a man of his time, a ruthless man. Until now…
The lord of war is now a sick old man. As he stares into Death’s eyes he learns about fear. A mysterious knight appears and Mort-Lieu believes he is the grim Reaper himself coming to get him. In the fading twilight of his life Mort-Lieu picks his ultimate and already lost fight, and feels the need to look back at what he has accomplished. What is his legacy ? His castle built on a rocky spear ? His legitimate and despicable son who never experienced the rush of fighting and bloodshed ? The bastard emblems that cover his coat of arms ? Facing none other than himself, it is now with his last duel that Mort-Lieu understands the value of life.
To capture our vision of the Dark Ages on film and increase Mort-Lieu’s distress, we think of PAR LE SANG as a medieval western. Scenography and weaponry of this time allow us to enhance our story’s themes with a strong visual signature, they extend our characters’ psychological depth to the point where violence is the way of showing how they feel. PAR LE SANG is a touching and universal tale which allows us to show how the awareness of death encourage us to live. It’s about the end of an era, Heredity and Redemption, and the final stand off is the metaphoric resolution for the eternal father and son conflict.
Because Mort-Lieu is a cornered man we keep him caught between a rock and a hard place, stuck in his armor and entrapped in the frame. It is significant to us that the audience embraces our hero’s realization : he can not hide away from his fate. With the idea of strengthening Mort-Lieu’s suffering, the mysterious knight is always seen from his point of view, as an enigma that we will solve with him throughout the film. Mort-Lieu’s last journey is the guiding thread that links all of our narrative and artistic choices.
We are not women and men of the Dark Ages ; nevertheless, there is a bit of Mort-Lieu in each of us.
Guillaume Enard and Jonathan Delerue