Le Regard de Gassin

Kerkennah 2025 — A documentary film by Emna Jalleli

When the image becomes a dialogue between the silence of the archipelago and the instinct of framing: the story of an encounter between a young filmmaker and a photographer drawn to the immaterial.

Synopsis: the immaterial and instinct

This documentary offers an immersion in Pierre Gassin’s world, guided by a deeply instinctive and sensitive way of looking. Through his intimate relationship with images, the film explores how the gaze is managed, how invisible details are noticed, and how photography becomes a language, almost a daily ritual.

Pierre Gassin’s gaze is built through simplicity, silence and an intimate connection with his surroundings, particularly the sea, which shapes the way he sees, frames and feels the world. The documentary reveals this constant dialogue between the man, his gaze and reality, bringing out an approach that is both personal and universal. Emna Jalleli adopts a pared-back visual language that leaves room for observation, time and emotion. Framing and editing follow this sensitive approach while respecting the subject’s inner rhythm and the poetry of his gaze. EJ

Director: Emna Jalleli · Camera: Hamdi Bougherich & Khalid Chouaibi · Editing and colour grading: Emna Jalleli · Sound: Emna Jalleli

Filming journal: Pierre Gassin’s words

“Emna Jalleli contacted me on social media to ask me to take part in her documentary film, her end-of-year project. How could I refuse, when I have spent my whole life teaching image professionals? I accepted instantly, without thinking. ‘A duty’, as they say in Tunisia.

A witness rather than an actor

We met in Kerkennah, in a café in Ramla. I discovered that I was the subject of the film, not merely a collaborator… I was not thrilled: a photographer is a witness, not an actor. I do not like putting myself on display; there are no selfies on my Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn pages.

I am one of those discreet observers who blend into the landscape. No tripod, small equipment, a modest bag. My presence is barely noticed. It is often amateurs who try to “look” professional with an enormous tripod, even for landscapes in full daylight, and oversized equipment as well… I have never felt the need to justify anything through equipment, thankfully.

Light as the only material

A camera is not a weapon; it only records what we have decided to record. It is the opposite of some people’s fantasy: the camera receives light, like the eye. When I ran my former professional training centre, Centre IRIS, in Paris, I systematically refused to appear in students’ reports. And during portrait sessions, I never posed.

Immersion at Marsa Acherine

We were lucky, though, with magnificent light, exactly the material I favour when making photographs. They were able to follow me genuinely at work on the beach of “Marsa Acherine”, on Chergui island. Of course I crossed paths with fishermen and residents I knew, or rather people who recognised me. However discreet I try to be, they eventually spot me. It is often a pleasant encounter.

The essence of emotion

What was rather funny was that there were questions I sometimes did not understand… because photography as I live it is not really the photography people imagine. I am an independent author. That does not stop me taking commissions, fortunately, but only within a very free framework. The finished film is disarming for me. I am not used at all to seeing myself.

The edit removed a great deal of dialogue. But quite a lot of emotion and sensitive fragments remain, and that is what matters. The jury appreciated the documentary. The light works well and the shots are carefully constructed. They liked the information, outside the usual paths, with a touch of teaching. No tripod, small equipment… they learned something about the life of a photographer.” PG