April 9, 2021

We Are The New Chimeras: 50 minutes of Flames, Black Metal and Utopia.

Can a festival be life-altering? In case of Brittany, France‘s Les Feux de Beltane (or Beltane Fires), a gathering of like-minded spirits can change lives. It can even bypass our industrial and commercial society by creating an event that differs from any other festival in artistic scope and feel. Or, on a human scale, while profoundly capturing what’s so appealing and fundamental about black metal, and its pagan and uncompromising spirit.

Les Feux de Beltane is a true celebration of discovery too, whether it’s (ancient) knowledge and methods or blackened music. Its unparalleled setting offers contemplation and a welcome escape from our dreadful existence.

It can also be experienced as a rite of passage in which we welcome the season of light, celebrated by gigantic bonfires. So during the last days of the dark period, only the initiated leave their cities to celebrate forgotten gods in the heart of Brittany. Through the portrait of six-festival-goers – each with their own sensitivity, cultural background, inspiration and aspiration – We Are The New Chimeras thoroughly retraces the last edition of the Beltane Fires, this secret congregation of black metal enthusiasts.

Sit back for 50 minutes and watch the exclusive, online premiere of We Are The New Chimeras, Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions and Ifern En Ti-Feurm’s first documentary, and directed by Mathias Averty, at Roadburn Redux. As this genuine document captures a unique experience that will remain etched in the memories and hearts of those in the know. And in ours, the uninitiated, as well, as festivals, even on celluloid, can definitely be life-altering.

Says director Mathias Averty: “I will always remember the overwhelming vertigo I felt when I first listened to black metal, when I was sixteen. This powerful, sick and obscure music changed my life and has stayed with me ever since. To me, Les Feux de Beltane has achieved more than any other event ever did, in capturing what’s so magnetic and fundamental to this music. Telling the story of this timeless gathering remote from the modern society through pictures was therefore a real challenge and a huge responsibility. That is why I tried to defend a really sensitive and personal approach.”

Offical poster by Came Roy de Rat
Model: Luperkahlia