In 2007, Lionel Charlet filmed at the Paris Air Show at le Bourget (Salon International de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace) and at MAKS 07, the Russian Air Show in Moscow, where the Russian Air Force performs its spectacular demonstrations.
With its extreme close-ups and high quality photography, Air et Lumière is, first and foremost, the fruit of a veritable technical performance.
This is not a simple filmed reflection like AIR 04, where, for one hour, the pilots of Mirages 2000, F-16 Falcon, Rafale or Super Hornet, Mig 33, Sukhoi 30, Mig 29, Typhoon and the Airbus A-380 all participate in the same principle of power and vibration.
The aerial show, seen by tens of thousands of spectators, is recreated here with a unified choreography and without commentary.

The soundtrack makes the walls tremble. The crackle of the post-combustion in the heavy summer air, the landscapes across Europe, the sheer size of the MAKS 07, the international ambiance of le Bourget, the feline and racy silhouettes of the fighter jets, the portraits of the ambiance; all create a feeling of astonishment, of a journey, of plummeting vertically.


The film is made in two parts which can be appreciated separately.  
The first, Paris-Moscow, MAKS 07, is a journey into the contrasting atmospheres of MAKS and le Bourget.
The majestic power and extraordinary maneuverability of the Su-30 are the stuff of dreams. The viewer accompanies the Aerobatics team led by Jean-Louis Monnet behind the scenes, as he crowns Svetlana Kapanina - the world Aerobatics champion - seen here in flight over the immense Zukovsky base.
Man appears so tiny next to the planes as they are launched and execute their immense circus.


Le second chapter, Air Display, raises the level of intensity even more.
In the solitude of the mountains of Provence and the Alps, the flights of the Rafale, the Mirage 2000, the Swiss Hornet, the French Patrol or the Red Arrows - the prestigious team of the Royal Air Force - are filmed from up high as never before, with close-ups that highlight the background.  
The viewer joins the Breitling Jet Team in Interlaken, in-flight.
This film could not have been made without the precious help of the official organizers.

Air et Lumière can be downloaded in two separate parts, Paris-Moscow 2007 and Air Display. Together, they are slightly longer than the DVD edition of the full film, which is just under one hour (not counting bonuses).

Format 16/9
Production Lionel Charlet Films 2007, VPS Prod, with the kindly authorization of the organizers of the filmed events, and de Haute-voltige.com.
In collaboration with the Breitling Jet Team, 2007
Copyright Lionel Charlet Films, VPS prod, distributed in France by Air et Cosmos
All rights reserved