Marie Antoinette: EICAR Students Go Behind the Scenes of the Versailles Shoot
Twenty years after its release, EICAR invited its students to rediscover Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette with a preview screening of the remastered version in the school’s cinema. The evening continued with a conversation with Anne Seibel, the film’s production designer, who came to share behind-the-scenes stories from the shoot at Versailles.
This event was made possible by Pathé and the Palace of Versailles, whom EICAR warmly thanks for their support. Following this preview, EICAR students will continue the experience at the Petit Trianon, where the Palace of Versailles is presenting, until 24 January 2027, the exhibition “20th Anniversary of Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola”, devoted to the making of the film. Designed in collaboration with the director, it looks back at the shoot and at the film’s lasting impact on the image of Marie Antoinette and Versailles, while showing the palace’s role as a source of inspiration for cinema and fashion. A complete immersion, in the very place where the film was shot.
Anne Seibel on How the Sets Were Made
After the screening, Anne Seibel looked back on her work as production designer and on what went on behind the scenes of an extraordinary shoot at the Palace of Versailles. She shared with students her professional perspective on how a set is conceived, built and made to serve the director’s vision.
Through her memories of the shoot and the artistic choices that shaped the film’s identity, the conversation offered a better understanding of the essential role of production design in a film’s storytelling, far beyond what is seen on screen.
A Full House and a Student Exhibition
EICAR’s cinema was full for the evening. Students came in large numbers to attend the screening and then talk with Anne Seibel during the discussion, before discovering the EICAR students’ exhibition, presented at the school as an extension of the exhibition at the Palace of Versailles.
At EICAR, these screenings and conversations complement the curriculum by bringing students face to face with the works that have shaped cinema and with the people who made them. Another way of learning filmmaking: watching films, understanding how they are conceived, and talking directly with the professionals who brought them to life.
Study at EICAR
The crafts behind Marie Antoinette are taught here.
Directing, writing, designing a film’s visual world: learn how films are made at a school open to international filmmaking, with programs taught entirely in English.