“Rehak” reminds you to imagine like a child

French filmmaker Pierre B. hasn’t lost his sense of imagination as he’s gotten older. Whether he’s commenting on the ridiculous state of shoe advertisements or releasing a 360-degree virtual reality lesson on how to be a hitman, Pierre provides an authentic charm and occasional wackiness to all his projects. 

His fascination with the importance of wonder and magic won Pierre the bronze medal for his piece “Rehak” at the 2020 Lake Placid Film Festival’s short film competition

The short film is about a little girl who befriends a sentient doodle named Rehak, who lives behind the paint chips in her room. The girl is ready to ignore the drawing and go back to doing her homework when it begins to tell fantastical stories of fighting pirates, flying to the moon and taming dragons. The drawing misses those adventures and wishes people could still explore the unknown even when they become adults.

“Rehak,” is partially inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s “The Little Prince,” a children’s book where young boy visits different planets and meets adults who have lost their sense of rationale and ability to understand the important things in life. 

“I wanted to tell a story about imagination and how we lose it when we grow up,” Pierre said. “When you’re a kid, you not only imagine friends but entire situations.”

The film’s title can be attributed to Pierre’s first-born son.

“In French, we have the word ‘regarde,’ which means ‘look,’ in English, but he couldn’t say it correctly and it would come out as ‘rehak,” Pierre said. “I quite liked the sound of it, so I used it as the name for the character and the film.”

Watching his son play, invent games and create make-believe scenarios naturally led Pierre to writing “Rehak.”

Rehak, with its little dot eyes and noodle-like limbs, wears a striped shirt and a cheerful expression. Designed by animator Subhankar Dutta, Rehak is a cross between simple and sophisticated.

“I wanted it to look beautiful but at the same time look like it was drawn by a kid,” Pierre said.

Pierre said ‘90s movies like “The Matrix” and “The Sixth Sense,” inspired him to make his own films. 

In addition to “Rehak,” one of Pierre’s other noteworthy short films is “Forever,” where a savage man in a primal, post-apocalyptic Earth dares to face harsh elements and predators after slipping into a pair of Nike sneakers, the joke being that even after the world has ended, people are still focused on the next product.

Outside of short films, Pierre has worked in music videos, advertisements, PSAs and photography.