Documentary Films

François Pernet, Carpenter and Sculptor


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by Jacqueline Veuve
color, 27 min, 1988



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Like his grandfather and his father before him, François Pernet is a mountain peasant and works with wood. He trained as a carpenter and cabinet maker and owns the last water-powered sawmill still operating in French-speaking Switzerland. He and his wife have five children, two of their own, and three nephews adopted after the death of their parents in a car accident. So, to earn a living, he makes and carves cupboards and turns bannisters.

In addition to his work, Pernet has become a sculptor as well. His bas-relief carvings, which have decorated local cafés, show varoius aspects of mountain life, including hunters, poachers, chamois and other animals.

"The putting into images of the various phases of work has an experimental touch, almost refreshing, through the use of changing perspectives and plains, precise camera movements, colour, light and sound..." — Peter F. Stucki, ZOOM Bern, 1989

Film Festivals, Screenings, Awards
Quality award, DFI
Prize International, Union of Alpine Climbers Associations
International Alpine Film Festival, Les Diablerets, Switzerland, 1988

other films in the Wood Crafts series:
Armand Rouiller, Sledge-maker
Arnold Golay, Toy-maker
The Bapst Brothers, Carriers
Claude Lebet, Luthier
Joseph Doutaz & Olivier Veuve, Shingle-makers
Marcellin Babey, Turner
Michel Marlétaz, Cooper
Pink Mountain Sand