Festival events
in detail
october
pop-up shop
From Saturday 17 October to Sunday 1 November – 10.30 am–1.30 pm and 2.30 pm–5.30 pm
Seafront – Place Claude Lelouch
PODA, a little work of art
Planches Contact Festival & PODA
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Throughout the All Saints’ Day holidays, the Place Claude Lelouch will be hosting the pop-up shop PODA – La Petite Œuvre d’Art.
Designed to make fine art photography accessible to as many people as possible, PODA offers fine art prints in a unique 9 × 12 cm format, presented in a box that serves as both a frame and a hanging system.
A simple and original way to start a collection or to give a photograph as a gift.
To mark the occasion, the shop will also reflect the Planches Contact programme through a selection of works and a number of surprises devised especially for this 17th edition.
a well-stocked shop
From Saturday 17 October to Sunday 3 January – 10.30 am–6.30 pm
Les franciscaines – 145b, av. de la république
the photo4food foundation’s charity shop photo4food
Planches Contact Festival & fondation photo4food
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What if buying a photograph could also make a difference?
With the photo4food Foundation’s ‘Boutique Généreuse’ photo4food, Anyone can purchase an original photograph, framed, certified and offered at a single price. All proceeds are donated to the Red Cross, making every purchase a tangible act of solidarity.
A wonderful opportunity to start a collection, treat yourself to something you’ve had your eye on, or give a meaningful gift. A loyal partner of the Planches Contact Festival since 2020, the foundation photo4food It also supports four photographers in residence each year and continues its commitment to contemporary art and charitable initiatives.
meeting
Tuesday 20 October – 4.00 pm
La Chapelle – 145b, av. de la république
Dreaming the World: A History of Pictorialism in Photography
Planches Contact Festival
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Tina Merandon examines Pictorialism, a movement that emerged around 1890 and sought to rival painting. It traces its key aesthetic principles and various schools of thought, and explains why this movement left its mark on the history of photography, as well as how it continues to influence certain contemporary practices today.
Photographer, speaker and guest of the foundation photo4food For this 17th edition of the Planches Contact Festival, Tina Merandon is presenting a talk open to everyone, from the simply curious to the most passionate enthusiasts. As a lecturer at the Sorbonne specialising in preparation for the external agrégation examinations, she combines historical rigour with visual delight to recount the key milestones in the history of photography and bring to light figures who have sometimes been forgotten. Her exhibition *Soudain la mêlée*, created as part of her residency at the festival, can be seen on Deauville beach until 3 January.
Full price: €5 / free for subscribers
projections
Thursday 22 October – 6.00 pm
La Chapelle – 145b, av. de la république
Generations – carte blanche at the Les Nuits Photos festival
Planches Contact Festival & festival Les Nuits Photos
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Planches Contact Festival gives the festival free rein les Nuits Photos – LNP, A festival that is part of the LUX network, hosting an evening dedicated to film photography.
Through around ten projected works, photography moves beyond the confines of the still image to become narrative, rhythm or experience, blending archive material, sound compositions, texts, editing and contemporary images.
Spanning family histories, collective memories, transformed landscapes, quests for identity and poetic manifestos, these films explore the many ways in which images transcend time and connect us to one another. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the audience, inviting them to reflect further on the works and to exchange views on perspectives, styles and new forms of photographic creation.
Free of charge, subject to booking (required)
opening weekend
portfolios
Friday 23 and Sunday 25 October – 10.30 am–1.00 pm and 2.30 pm–5.30 pm
La Villa Namouna – 4 Rue Tristan Bernard, Deauville
portfolio reviews
Planches Contact Festival
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Portfolio reviews offer photographers, whether beginners or experienced, a unique opportunity to present their work to imaging experts. This essential opportunity for discussion is taking place for the first time at the festival’s main venue: La Villa Namouna, to nurture their practice and take their projects forward.
Portfolio reviews are open to all photographers seeking constructive feedback on their work.
During twenty-minute one-to-one meetings, they have the opportunity to meet professionals from the visual arts world: gallery owners, curators, critics, image editors, publishers and festival directors.
These exchanges provide an outside perspective, helping artists to refine their artistic approach, adjust their visual narrative or explore new avenues.
>>> Further details and registration in September
planète initial
Friday 23 to Sunday 25 October – 10.30 am–6.30 pm
Le Cloître et Salons – 145b, av. de la république
planète initial
Planches Contact Festival & Initial Labo
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Initial LABO is setting up shop at Les Franciscaines with Planète Initial. A space open to all, where visitors can discover the skills, trades and exchanges that bring photographs to life.
Photographers, printers, technicians and image professionals look forward to welcoming you to presentations on papers and printing techniques, as well as discussions and knowledge-sharing sessions. As a long-standing partner of the festival, Initial LABO shines a spotlight on those who play a vital role in bringing photographs to life. Come along over the weekend to discuss your photography projects!
Workshops: An introductory course
from analogue photography to digital printing
In just two hours, join Dorian to experience all the steps usually carried out in a darkroom. Taking photos, developing your negative, scanning it and printing it will hold no secrets for you! No special skills are required, and all equipment is provided.
memory
Friday 23 to Sunday 25 October – 10.30 am–6.30 pm
Le Cloître – 145b, av. de la république
THE BICENTENNIAL TRUNK
The first time capsule dedicated to Francophone photography
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What will today’s photography look like when we look back on it in thirteen years’ time?
To mark the bicentenary of the first permanent photograph taken by Nicéphore Niépce, The Bicentenary Trunk Imagine a time capsule devoted entirely to French-language photography.
Throughout 2026, the project aims to bring together 10,000 photographs by 10,000 photographers, both professional and amateur: one image per photographer, which must have been taken in 2026. A vast collective snapshot of our times, designed to document the perspectives, practices and subjects that characterise photography today.
As part of its tour of several major photography events, La Malle will be stopping off at the Planches Contact Festival. Anyone can submit a photograph taken in 2026 and thus contribute to this unique time capsule. Once the collection is complete, La Malle will be sealed at the Nicéphore Niépce Museum in Châlon-sur-Saône, where it will be kept until it is reopened in 2039 to mark the bicentenary of François Arago’s speech.
>>> free entry
studio photo
Friday 23 to Sunday 25 October – 10.30 am–6.30 pm
Salon de créativité– 145b, av. de la république
The wet collodion process
Planches Contact Festival & Clément Marion
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At Les Franciscaines, the wet collodion process is brought back to life for the opening days of the Planches Contact Festival. Clément Marion sets up his photographic studio there and shares the secrets of this 19th-century process with the public through two activities: an introduction to this historic technique, or the chance to take home a portrait of yourself taken on a glass plate.
The introductory workshops offer a behind-the-scenes insight into this technique, which was invented in the 19th century. From preparing the glass plate to the emergence of the image, each stage reveals the precision of the movements and the magic of a process in which time seems to stand still.
For those who wish to take home a unique souvenir, Clément Marion also creates portraits using the wet collodion process. Each plate is handmade and is a one-off. With their depth, their imperfections and their distinctive texture, these portraits break away from the conventions of contemporary photography to recapture the charm of the earliest photographic studios.
An encounter with rare craftsmanship… and a memory to take home with you.
meeting
Friday 23 October – 4.00 pm
La Chapelle– 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
Generations of photographers
Alain and Léo Keler
together with Françoise Denoyelle,
by Lionel Charrier
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What is passed on when the craft of photography is handed down from father to son? A particular perspective, a way of engaging with the world, a sense of rigour, or the desire to break free from it?
Through a previously unpublished dialogue, Alain Keler, A leading figure in French photojournalism and a member of the MYOP collective, in conversation with his son Léo Keler, who is now developing his own style as part of the fledgling Hors Format collective.
As guests at this 17th edition of the Planches Contact Festival, which is dedicated to generations, Alain and Léo Keler will compare their experiences, their images and their commitments, alongside Françoise Denoyelle, a leading historian of photography.
Exploring themes such as the passing down of a family legacy, changing practices and perspectives on a world in flux, this event will highlight how two generations of photographers have each devised their own way of portraying reality, in dialogue with the history of photography.
Full price: €5 / free for subscribers
opening night
Friday 23 October – 7.00 pm
Le Cloître – 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
opening
Planches Contact Festival
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Planches Contact Festival is launching its 17th edition at Les Franciscaines with an opening night dedicated to Générations.
An invitation to discover the ‘Générations’ exhibition and the programme of events, which explores the ties of lineage and transmission, and the ways in which perspectives echo one another across time.
Over the course of an evening, Les Franciscaines will showcase the highlights of the Planches Contact Festival and the exhibitions set to take place in Deauville and Normandy throughout the autumn.
Visitors will be able to see the new exhibition Generations in the Exhibition Courtyard, in the presence of the artists: Newsha Tavakolian, Alain and Léo Keler, Lise Sarfati or Tom Wood, le dialogue inédit avec Hans‑Peter Feldmann, les projets des lauréats du Young Photographers’ Award, as well as the work ofOleñka Carrasco and La Chica, winners of the Prix Swiss Life à 4 Mains.
A programme that brings together different generations, photographic styles and personal stories to kick off this year’s festival.
>>> Free entry
concert-performance
Friday 23 October – 9.00 pm
La Chapelle– 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
The chaos that gives me life
Atlas of an Imaginary Country
Swiss Life Four-Handed Prize
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There are countries we leave behind. There are others that continue to live within us. The chaos that gives me life is one of them.
Born from the Creole memories of El Callao, in Venezuela. From this land springs an imagined country, where photography breathes, where music tells stories, where scents awaken buried memories, where voices convey what cannot be said in any other way.
Part concert, part storytelling and part live installation, Oleñka Carrasco and La Chica form a sensitive atlas in which every image becomes a door, every song a passage, every breath a memory rediscovered.
It’s not about looking. It’s about stepping inside. About allowing yourself to get lost. Because sometimes you have to journey through an imaginary land to rediscover the one you carry within you.
Established in 2014 by the Swiss Life Foundation, the Swiss Life Four-Handed Prize is the only arts prize in France to bring together photography and music. It offers a pair of artists the freedom to create an original work by blending their respective artistic worlds. Each edition supports contemporary creativity and fosters the convergence of these two disciplines through exhibitions and concerts held at cultural venues across France.
Free of charge, subject to booking (required)
meeting
Saturday 24 October – 3.00 pm
La Chapelle– 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
NEWSHA tavakolian
Iran. Three cameras, one country.
Moderated by Dimitry Beck – Polka Magazine
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Newsha Tavakolian was sixteen when she began taking photographs in Iran. Since then, she has been documenting the changes taking place in her country, with a particular focus on young people, women and the private sphere. Starting out as a photojournalist, she has gradually broadened her practice, blending documentary photography, personal archives, family photographs and staged shots.
A guest at this 17th edition of the Planches Contact Festival, which is dedicated to ‘Generations’, the Iranian photographer – a member of Magnum Photos – will reflect on more than twenty years of work and on how her perspective has evolved amidst the upheavals in her country. Her story is also intertwined with that of her family: before her, her great-uncle and then her grandfather were already photographing Iran and their loved ones.
An event exploring a significant journey, in which personal, family and collective stories intertwine through photography.
Full price: €5 / free for subscribers
>>> reservation
performance
Samedi 24 octobre – 17h
La Chapelle– 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
A COMME AGRANDISSEUR
by the shooter Diamantino
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Behind every photograph on display lies a sequence of actions, skills and choices that shape the image.
Thanks to an outstanding performance, the shooter Diamantino brings photography out of the darkroom to reveal all its magic. Before the audience’s very eyes, the image appears, takes shape and comes to life, reminding us that printing is a creative act in its own right.
This performance forms part of The Almost Complete Primer on Photography, a collaborative project led by the réseau LUX to mark the bicentenary of photography.
For this edition, the Planches Contact Festival has chosen the letter A comme Agrandisseur, celebrating this iconic tool that has shaped generations of images and photographers. A sensitive and spectacular way of paying tribute to the techniques, crafts and skills that continue to breathe life into photography today.
Free of charge, subject to booking (required)
Jury Prize for Emerging Photographic Talent
Saturday 24 October – 7.00 pm
Le Cloître– 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
award ceremony for the Young Photographers’ Prize
Planches Contact Festival
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From among more than 200 entries from 35 countries, Mathias Benguigui, Juliette Pavy, Flore Prébay and Emeline Sauser have been shortlisted for this year’s Young Photographers’ Award. Following several months’ residency in Normandy, they will be unveiling their previously unseen projects this autumn at the Planches Contact Festival.
The presentation of the Jury Prize, chaired by Rima Abdul-Malak and comprising leading figures from the worlds of photography, art and culture, will honour one of these four perspectives.
The winner will be awarded a creative residency at the Villa Pérochon – Centre for Contemporary Photography, whilst the Festival InCadaqués will offer one of the four artists a residency at its festival in Spain.
The ceremony will be followed by a tour of the exhibition, providing an opportunity to meet the photographers and discuss their projects carried out in Normandy.
>>> free entry
photo contest
Saturday 24 October – 10.30 pm
Le Cloître – 145b, av. de la république
The 25th Hour by Longines
Les Franciscaines & Planches Contact Festival
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To welcome winter in a different way, the night-time competition La 25e heure Longines invites all photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, to take advantage of the extra hour gained by the switch to winter time to capture the moment and unleash their creativity.
Open to all, the La 25e heure Longines photo competition brings together photography enthusiasts, whether individuals, groups or families. Urban scenes, portraits, landscapes or tributes to famous beaches: all perspectives are welcome to capture Deauville by night, with sensitivity and freedom.
At midnight, the signal is given from the Franciscan courtyard. Participants then have one hour to take their photo and hand in their digital file to the teams.
meeting
Sunday 25 October – 3.00 pm
La Chapelle – 145b, av. de la république
GEN X / GEN Z from MAGNUM PHOTOS
par Cristina de Middel and Giulietta Palumbo, from Magnum Photos.
Discussion chaired by Lionel Charrier
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How does a generation tell its story through images? Are the concerns of today’s young people really so different from those of the 1950s?
By bringing together Giulietta Palumbo, Head of Cultural Projects at Magnum Photos, and Cristina de Middel, As chair of Magnum Photos and a photographer herself, this encounter spans more than seventy years of photographic history across two generations that appear to be worlds apart… and yet.
Presented by Lionel Charrier, As co-artistic director of the Planches Contact Festival, this discussion will look back at ‘Generation X’, a project initiated by the founders of Magnum Photos – including Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson – who invited the agency’s photographers to complete the same questionnaire in order to paint a portrait of a changing youth.
Revived in Normandy, this principle has now given rise to projects by Cristina de Middel on the ‘atomic workers’ of Cherbourg and by Bruce Gilden focusing on young farmers in Normandy. A meeting to explore how Magnum chronicles, from one generation to the next, the changes taking place in our societies.
Full price: €5 / free for subscribers
november
meeting
Saturday 7 November – 4.00 pm
La Chapelle – 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
Lee Miller by Jennifer Lesieur
Planches Contact Festival
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An American living in Paris in the 1930s, Lee Miller (1907–1977) was, in turn, a model and a muse to the Surrealists, before becoming an intrepid war correspondent who photographed Dachau and the liberation of Normandy… before taking a photograph of herself, in 1945, in Hitler’s bath.
A free spirit in her projects and passions, muse and later lover of Man Ray, friend of Picasso and Paul Eluard, she reinvented her life several times – in New York, in Paris during the golden age of Montparnasse, in Cairo, and then in London in 1939. Through her truly dizzying life, Lee Miller remains one of the great photographers of the 20th century and a legendary woman. She was at once indomitable and fragile, committed and whimsical. Throughout her life, she embraced the upheavals of the 20th century, oscillating, in dazzling leaps, between artistic creativity and the war-driven madness of men.
Novelist and essayist, Jennifer Lesieur, Having previously been featured at Les Franciscaines with her biography of Rose Valland, she has just published a new biography of Lee Miller: *Lee Miller’s Darkrooms* (Robert Laffont).
Full price: €5 / free for subscribers
meeting
Saturday 21 November – 3.00 pm
La Chapelle – 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
SYLVIE BONNOT & MICHEL POIVERT
Dusting off the image: photosensitive anatomies
Planches Contact Festival
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At what point does a photograph cease to be merely an image?
It is around this question that Michel Poivert and Sylvie Bonnot are coming together for a discussion on new forms of the photographic image, alongside Benoit Pelletier, editor at Éditions Process.
An art historian, photography specialist and member of the scientific committee for the Bicentenary of Photography, Michel Poivert has been following developments in the medium for several decades.
Alongside him, Sylvie Bonnot, a guest at this 17th edition of the Planches Contact Festival, has developed a unique body of work in which her process of ‘moulting’ transforms photography into a physical material, blurring the boundaries between image, sculpture and installation.
Following the publication of Prisme liquide Published by Process, this event will examine a practice that treats photography as a genuine creative medium. A dialogue between an artist and one of the leading historians of photography, exploring new ways of representing the image and the evolving nature of the contemporary medium.
Full price: €5 / free for subscribers
workshop
Friday 20 to Sunday 22 November – 10.30 am–6.30 pm
Salons de créativité – 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
Frédéric Stucin – Portraiture and Lighting
Planches Contact Festival
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How can you capture a person’s presence, build a relationship of trust and reveal their personality in just a few images?
Through a workshop focusing on portraiture, Frédéric Stucin shares the secrets of a craft he has been developing for over twenty years, through commissions for the press, personal projects and major campaigns. Three days to explore portraiture – from the initial meeting to the editing process – and to refine your eye alongside one of France’s most acclaimed portrait photographers.
As an artist-in-residence at the Planches Contact Festival in 2025, Frédéric Stucin has dedicated his project *Le Chant des Sirènes* to the cabarets of Normandy, continuing his exploration of these venues and the people who frequent them. This series will be on display from 19 September to 19 December at the Maison des arts de Créteil as part of 200 LUX, the exhibition organised by the LUX network, of which the Planches Contact Festival is proud to be a member.
A wonderful opportunity to rediscover his artistic vision in Deauville, this time in the intimate setting of a workshop dedicated to the art of portraiture.
Duration: 3 days
Full price: €300
Season ticket holders and under-26s: €250
december
meeting
Sunday 6 December – 4.00 pm
La Chapelle – 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
QUENTIN BAJAC & ANTONIO SOMAINI
The Bicentenary of Photography
Planches Contact Festival
>>> Bookings will be available soon
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What remains of photography, two hundred years after its invention? How does a technique that originated in the 19th century continue to reinvent itself in the age of artificial intelligence, computer-generated images and new uses of digital technology?
To mark the bicentenary of photography, Antonio Somaini and Quentin Bajac exchange glances as they reflect on the major changes currently taking place within the medium.
Both specialists in the history and development of photography, Antonio Somaini and Quentin Bajac are among the leading figures in contemporary thinking on the image.
Antonio Somaini, a visual historian and lecturer at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University, focuses his research on the transformations of contemporary visual cultures.
Quentin Bajac, a historian of photography, was head of the photography department at MoMA in New York before taking over as director of the Jeu de Paume.
Together, they look back over two centuries of innovation, technical upheavals and changing practices to shed light on how photography continues to redefine our relationship with images and the world.
Full price: €5 / free for subscribers
secondary school pupils’ photo competition
Friday 11 December – 11.00 am
La Chapelle – 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
Awards ceremony
Secondary School Photo Competition
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To mark the bicentenary of photography, the Planches Contact Festival is launching the first edition of its Concours Photo des Collégiens. A new initiative designed to showcase and highlight the perspectives of young people, by offering them the opportunity to present their photographs as part of the festival.
Over a period of several months, classes from Year 6 to Year 9 explored the theme of ‘Generations’, transforming their everyday lives, encounters and stories into photographic narratives. Following the judging process, a panel of professionals will announce the three winning series at a ceremony to be held at Les Franciscaines.
Beyond the awards themselves, this inaugural awards ceremony celebrates the curiosity, creativity and boldness of a new generation that is learning to see the world in a different light. The awards ceremony will be accompanied by an opportunity to view the photographs taken by all the pupils, as well as the winning entries, and a chance to meet the pupils and their teachers.
Free – For school groups only
>>> Free – For school groups only
workshop
Friday 11 to Sunday 13 December – 10.30 am–6.30 pm
Salons de créativité – 145b, av. de la république, Deauville
élie monferier
Designing and publishing a photo book
Planches Contact Festival
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Sequencing, storytelling, graphic design, layout, printing and binding: participants will experience every stage of the publishing process in order to create a unique object, conceived as an extension of their photographs.
The workshop is aimed at anyone interested in publishing or self-publishing their work as a photographic artist’s book.
Visual artist, photographer and book designer, Élie Monferier turns the book into a true space for creativity. He has won several awards for his self-published works, notably Sang Noir, winner of the Best Photo Book of the Year award at PhotoEspaña, or more recently Journal des Mines, A finalist at the Rencontres d’Arles and PhotoEspaña in 2024. He is also the winner of the Prix Mentor in 2023 and the Gomma Photography Grant in 2024. He is developing a practice in which photography is shaped as much by the images themselves as by the way they are narrated.
Duration: 3 days
Full price: €300
Season ticket holders and under-26s: €250
photographic concert
Sunday 20 December – 4.00 pm
La Chapelle – 145b, av. de la république
ALINE PIBOULE & MICHEL POIVERT – Spectralité
Planches Contact Festival
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To mark the bicentenary of photography, the pianist Aline Piboule and the photography historian Michel Poivert envision a production in which music and images engage in a dialogue centred on the invisible, memory and the phenomenon of apparitions.
What do photography and music have in common when they seek to reveal what escapes the eye or the ear?
This question serves as a guide Spectralité, An original production conceived as a sensory journey combining image projections, narration and musical interpretation. By creating a dialogue between photographic works and musical scores from different eras, Michel Poivert and Aline Piboule explore the deep connections that link these two arts of perception. Apparitions, ghosts, illusions, and scientific or artistic experiments weave a narrative in which the visible and the invisible echo one another.
Through this intertwined history spanning two centuries of creativity, *Spectralité* invites the audience to take a fresh look at both images and sounds, and to discover the poetry of that which reveals itself only to those who take the time to look and listen.
Full price: €27
Subscriber: €20
Young people and those on low incomes: €6
film and snacks
Wednesday 30 December – 2.30 pm
Salon de créativité– 145b, av. de la république
persepolis
by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
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Planches Contact Festival explores Iran’s recent history and the aspirations of its young people.
Following on from Newsha Tavakolian’s exhibition at Les Franciscaines, this film and afternoon tea event invites you to (re)discover Persepolis, An animated film directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, released in 2007 and adapted from her autobiographical comic strip.
With humour, emotion and an incredible story, the film follows the journey of a young girl as she faces the Iranian Revolution, exile and her quest for freedom.
Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2008, *Persepolis* has established itself as a major work of contemporary animated cinema. By blending personal memory with a universal narrative, the film continues to resonate with undiminished power. As Marjane Satrapi passed away last June, this screening takes on a special significance: that of a tribute to an artist whose unfettered voice has permanently changed our perspective on Iran and on the power of storytelling.
A film suitable for children aged 12 and over, followed by an Iranian-inspired afternoon tea to round off the evening
the trip and sharing this cinema experience with the family.
Free of charge, subject to booking (required)
>>> Bookings will be available soon