“My Cousin Mimi” is the first film I’ve ever written and directed. A documentary film co-produced by JJLM Films and France 3 Pays de la Loire about my «great» cousin, Micheline Masse (1932-2017).

Daughter of upholsterers living in La Chartre-sur-leLoir, Micheline left her village with her paint for any luggage. All her life, she travelled France on her moped, carrying her canvases, tubes and brushes in her trailer.

Because Micheline Masse was a free spirit and very few women of her time had such a character and talent. Between 2015 and 2017, in her twilight years, living at her side, I was overwhelmed by this cousin I had lost side of. I rediscovered a magician of colors who carried high the audacity of women artists. A “born painter” woman.

Signing a portrait of Mimi was therefore a no-brainer both to reveal to the public a remarkable career and to pay tribute to such a woman!

Confidently, Micheline told me about her incredible destiny:

The career of a true artist, honored by a large number of awards, including the President of the Republic Award.
The journey of an adventurous and foolhardy woman, whose motto could have been ‘to paint or to die’.

‘My cousin Mimi' will lead the audience on a moped itinerary in Mimi’s footsteps. She lived for painting and she painted to live and her teeming work, reveals her curiosity, her inspiration, her hard work, her courage.

You will follow her:

At La Chartre-sur-le-Loir, her hometown that just gave her name to a square;
In the places that inspired her, from Pays de la Loire to Alsace, from Brittany to Bordeaux area, from Paris to Provence;
By her relatives who testify and speak of their Mimi;
Looking for her encounters of chance, like those bankers who bought her paintings on the sly when she was a maid to survivre;
Through the places that have welcomed and rewarded her work among which the Palais de l’Elysée.

Always on her noisy moped attached to a tow carrying her material, Micheline Masse painted to the end. Despite the fatigue, despite illness. To whom did she owe this? Mystery. She had to do it, that's all.At the age of 85, the journey ended for this invincible woman, and whose life was a romantic destiny.

'I realized in 1960 that I was a real painter' said this woman who loved nature and worked without resting.

It's time, through this documentary, that everyone knows it… Can you help me?

They are already involved:

Images du teaser : Lionel Roy, Elizabeth Bourgine, Jules Miesch
Montage du teaser : Jules Miesch
Support Technique pour la «meule bleue» : Eric Calleau, Bruno Prou
Conseil juridique : Patrice Laumé
Musique du teaser : Guillaume Tristant
Musique : Benoît Urbain
Portrait Elizabeth Bourgine et Micheline Masse : Lionel Roy
Supports de communication et relations presse : Cécile Fraboul, Violaine Marin

Ma Cousine Mimi