Exhibition - The invisible construction site: a fascinating journey into the heart of Jean-Jacques Annaud's creative workshop

By Mulder, 28 january 2026

From March 19 to October 31, 2026, the Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé Foundation will offer a rare and precious interlude in the Parisian cultural landscape with The Invisible Construction Site, a spectacular immersion dedicated to Jean-Jacques Annaud, a filmmaker whose filmography combines the excess of historical epics with an almost obsessive attention to detail in reconstruction. Conceived as a sensory journey through the stages of filmmaking, the exhibition will reveal what usually remains off-screen: documentary research, location scouting, storyboards, models, costumes, notes of intent, and personal archives. From the very first rooms, visitors will understand that the stakes go beyond a simple celebration of heritage: the aim is to reveal the secret architecture of a work shaped by a director whom his collaborators readily describe as an architect of the invisible, a relentless craftsman for whom making a film is less a matter of sudden inspiration than of methodical work, stretched out over years. This approach resonates particularly with the career of Jean-Jacques Annaud, who trained at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (IDHEC) and first learned the demands of advertising, where anticipation and precision become professional reflexes.

The exhibition will highlight the consistency of a method forged in Black and White in Color (1976), which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and refined through film shoots in the four corners of the globe. The scenography will emphasize this borderless dimension: Annaud has filmed in Africa, Europe, Asia, and South America, multiplying logistical and technical challenges to achieve a visual authenticity rarely equaled. The archives on display remind us how much each project was preceded by a titanic effort, whether it was inventing a prehistoric language for Quest for Fire (1981) with the help of a linguist, orchestrating the direction of animals in The Bear (1988), a now famous anecdote: raising several bear cubs to achieve the desired spontaneity, or spending nearly four years preparing The Name of the Rose (1986), an adaptation of Umberto Eco's novel starring Sean Connery. This behind-the-scenes look reveals a creator obsessed with the pursuit of material credibility: textures, lighting, gestures, languages, and sounds are conceived as elements of an organic whole designed to fade into the background behind the cinematic illusion.

Among the highlights to discover is a replica of a 14th-century illuminated manuscript, presented on its lectern, which instantly recreates the mystical atmosphere of The Name of the Rose, while the monumental model of the abbey, designed by production designer Dante Ferretti, stands out as a striking testimony to the dialogue between imagination and engineering. Construction plans and set photographs interact with these objects, offering an almost archaeological insight into the genesis of the sets. The exhibition also devotes a significant space to Notre-Dame on Fire (2022), where preparatory models, the burning belfry, forest of rafters, nave and collapse of the oculus, and set elements (fresco from the Chapel of the Seven Sorrows, treasure, reliquary, chimeras) testify to the historical rigor claimed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. This particularly moving section reminds us of the scale of the challenge: to recreate cinematographically an event that is still fresh in the collective memory, while reconciling documentary accuracy with dramatic effectiveness.

Visitors can also discover the Stalingrad tank (Enemy at the Gates, 2001), a 1/10 scale model designed to adorn the film's horizons, which embodies this obsession with credible detail; The iconic dress worn by Jane March in The Lover (1992), surrounded by original drawings by Yvonne de Sassinot de Nesle, reminds us how much costume design contributes to Annaud's visual dramaturgy. Finally, Philippe Druillet's original painting for the poster of Quest for Fire reveals the porosity between cinema and graphic arts. In addition to these pieces, for the first time, there will be a presentation of personal annotated storyboards, created by Jean-Jacques Annaud himself or in collaboration with Norbert Iborra and Maxime Rebière, offering direct access to the mechanics of editing, the choreography of shots, and the director's visual thinking.

To accompany the exhibition, the Foundation will roll out a program that cleverly extends the experience: from May 13 to 30, 2026, Jean-Jacques Annaud will be given carte blanche to share his inspirations through a selection of silent film masterpieces by Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Abel Gance, René Clair, and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, recalling the cinephile roots of an auteur often associated with spectacular adventure films. Four films produced by Pathé, The Bear, The Lover, Two Brothers, and Notre-Dame Burns, will be screened as part of the Cinémathèque Pathé, and on April 10, 2026, Jean-Jacques Annaud will host a masterclass followed by a discussion with the audience before the screening of Two Brothers. Subject to confirmation, a meeting between Jean Rabasse, Jean-Marie Dreujou, and Mathieu de la Mortière will look back at the making of Notre-Dame brûle, offering additional insight into the collaboration between directing, cinematography, and art direction.

Located at 73 avenue des Gobelins in Paris, the Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé Foundation confirms with Le chantier invisible its ability to combine historical rigour, education and cinematic emotion, offering much more than an exhibition: a true journey through the creative work of Jean-Jacques Annaud, whose career, from Black and White in Color to Wolf Totem (2015), via Seven Years in Tibet (1997) with Brad Pitt, embodies a certain idea of popular, ambitious, and resolutely artisanal auteur cinema.

Filmography:
1976 - Black and White in Color
1979 – Hothead
1981 - Quest for Fire
1986 - The Name of the Rose
1988 - The Bear
1992 - The Lover
1995 - Wings of Courage
1997 - Seven Years in Tibet
2001 - Enemy at the Gates
2004 - Two Brothers
2007 - His Majesty Minor
2011 - Black Gold
2015 - Wolf Totem
2022 - Notre-Dame brûle

Practical information:
Address: Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, 73 avenue des Gobelins 75013 Paris
Opening hours: Wednesday and Thursday 2pm - 7pm Tuesday and Friday 2pm - 8:30pm Saturday 11:30am - 7pm
Website: www.fondation-jeromeseydoux-pathe.com
Full price: €5, reduced price and partners*: €3