Los Angeles,
City by the Sea & Zaa

Anatomy of Los Angeles (Anatomie de Los Angeles)
Yannick Bellon, 1969, 37min, DCP

City by the Sea, or how to survive in Venice (Une ville de la mer, ou comment survivre à Venise)
Yannick Bellon, 1969, 44min, DCP

Zaa, the Little White Camel (Zaa, petit chameau blanc)
Yannick Bellon, France, 1960, 23 minutes, DCP

Two documentaries on the lives of cities, and a delicate tale of a boy and camel. Bellon, ever the intrepid explorer (her first film, Goémons, documented life in Brittany), travels to two of the most mythologized cities on earth: Los Angeles during the height of its expansion due to an elaborate highway system, and the ancient city of Venice, both of finite space and resources, and forever locked in environmental battles for survival.

Zaa follows the journey of a white camel returning to the oasis it calls home and finds an unlikely ally in a young boy. With Zaa, Bellon shows another side of herself, the lover of animals and children, in a land far from France.

Restoration for Zaa by Les Films de l’Équinoxe with the support of the CNC
Restoration for City by the Sea and Anatomy of Los Angeles: The 2K restoration was carried out in 2004 by the National Audiovisual Institute from the 16mm reversal film and the 16mm magnetic sound.

Part of Yannick Bellon: The Happy Pessimist