Gilles ma soeur et moi
Camille Descroix
Mathilde lives in Quimper with her son Léon and her partner Corentin. She works in a restaurant, and between shifts she likes to enjoy life, like everyone else. But Mathilde is not really like everyone else. She has vocal and motor tics. These are caused by Gilles, Gilles de la Tourette. Camille Descroix, her younger sister, has decided to investigate who this unexpected guest that has turned up in the family is: how did he get there, and how did Mathilde learn to live with him so well? Around the dinner table, at Sunday lunch or during a walk by the sea along the Breton coast of the Finistère, Mathilde and Camille share a journey discovering Gilles, the man who has turned their daily lives upside down. Gilles, ma soeur et moi is a family story that questions our relationship with disability and “normality”.
It received a special mention at the Prix Italia 2022 in the Radio Documentary and Reportage category.
Based in Paris, Camille Descroix is a reporter for print media (Vice, Slate, Society…) and radio (France Info), covering mainly social issues. She is the author of Gilles, ma soeur et moi, a podcast about her older sister Mathilde and her Tourette’s syndrome, for ARTE Radio and TavieProd. She recently participated in the new podcast production programme launched by Gaîté Lyrique, Paris Podcast Festival and Tilt. Re-post, the audio project she created during this residency, has been online on all streaming platforms since October 28th, 2022. It tells of the movements to defend the freedom of expression of African women.