Last May, the web series made its appearance at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes during the Film Market . Nestled in the hollow at the Short Film Corner , a conference entitled ” Wild Wild Web: webseries are tomorrow’s goldmines? ” ( ” Wild Wild Web: are the web series the gold mines of tomorrow “) is open to all young writers, directors and producers of the 2,000 short films present this year on the Croisette. Halfway between the televisual codes and sometimes look very artisanal Short Film, the web series can sometimes be an interesting alternative for creators.
To represent this trend, the conference welcomed young Jessie Kahnweiler, designer, actress and director of the webseries The Skinny , shown in Europe for the first time in the last edition of Mania Series .
Youtube Sundance
In 2013, Jessie had already made a first web series titled Dude, where’s my chutzpah? , Caustic comedy about Jewish identity. Since Jessie became known almost exclusively on Youtube , occurring at regular intervals videos at once funny and engaged , often reaching hundreds of thousands of views. His favorite subjects? Sex, love, rape, feminism, but also racial privilege.
One of his last video / performance confronts his “dates” Tinder so gratifying as absurd.
The Skinny is a web series of six episodes of ten minutes, Jessie calls itself a “dark comedy” that follows the (mis) adventures of Jessie , a young bulimic YouTuber, faced with a painful breakup. “I hope no table of fate, because what I’m going to show you is really dirty, “ joked the young director before the screening of the first episode.
The series has a true autobiographical background, like Jessie confirms: “I left ten years of bulimia, and I realized that no film, no series not dealt with this problem yet affects millions of people. “
Between Girls and Broad City , the series offers a new variation on the young woman thirties, more or less good about yourself, away smooth body and sanitized fictions.
The series offers its director amazing mirror, not only on his eating habits but also on his professional activity, videographer on Youtube , many are still struggling to be considered a “real job”: “My career is something I am very proud, and at the same time I can really hate me in my private life. This contradiction is common to many women, and I found it interesting to use the world influencers and youtubeurs as a metaphor for this; a world where even with a million views, always more you want, you’re never really satisfied. “
“A series like mine would never have emerged on television. “
Jessie Kahnweiler first tried to sell her story to American television. Without success, she then turned to Refinery29 , platform “lifestyle” for hip New Yorker. “It was crazy that they agree to make The Skinny , it was really the first time they produced a content of this type without top models with imperfect bodies, far removed from what they usually do. “
The series is co-produced with well Wifey.tv , feminist video site explicit slogan ( ” Be the subject, not the object “ ), one of the founders is none other than Jill Soloway, creator of the series Transparent . ” Jill was a kind of mentor to me, it was she who advised me to turn to the web when I realized I could not do the Skinny on television. “
The Skinny was unveiled for the first time in January, days before it went online at the last Sundance Film Festival , alongside films indie most hype of the year.
Jessie Kahnweiler claim to belong to the web and what it owes. “I feel that the webseries give voice to original and unique voices. They can tell stories that I had never seen before, crazy stories. “
Ignoring the difference between videos posted on the Internet in minutes, and short films for festivals chiadés, Jessie Kahnweiler has reconciled everyone at the end of the conference. The numerous requests of the (young) audience asking advice, Jessie met all “Make stuff, post them online. It is still the best way to learn. “
