La Défense Volume III – Demons to Diamonds, dir. Valentin Noujaïm, France/Canada/Switzerland/Italy/Qatar/USA 2025, 29 min.
Book tickets
A special screening of Valentin Noujaïm’s trilogy exploring the haunting architecture of La Défense, Paris, where buried dreams, corporate isolation, and urban paranoia reveal the emotional cracks beneath the city’s surface, on the occasion of his new publication, INTERZONE, published on the occasion of his first institutional solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel, PANTHEON.
This book accompanies the premiere of the work La Défense Volume III – Demons to Diamonds and brings together for the first time the artist’s complete La Défense trilogy. Its non-linear sequences create new dialogues across the trilogy while offering glimpses behind the scenes of Noujaïm’s collaborative process—from choreographed confrontations with streams of businessmen to intimate moments in the subterranean spaces of Europe’s largest business district. Co-published by Kunsthalle Basel and Mousse Publishing, this volume is both an extension of the exhibition and an autonomous work, offering readers an immersive entry point into Noujaïm’s cinematic world.
Pacific Club, France/Qatar 2023, 16 min.
In 1979, the Pacific Club was opened in the basement of La Défense - the business district of Paris. It was the first nightclub for Arabs from the suburbs; a parallel world of dance, sweat, young loves, and one-night utopias. Azedine, 17 years old at the time, tells us the forgotten story of this club and of this generation who dreamed of integrating into France but who soon came face to face with racism, the AIDS epidemic, and heroin.
To Exist Under Permanent Suspicion, France 2024, 14 min.
Claire (Kayije Kagame), a businesswoman promoting a new skyscraper office in La Défense, faces increasing scrutiny and isolation. The cold, grey offices amplify her loneliness, driving vivid dreams of setting the tower ablaze.
La Défense Volume III – Demons to Diamonds,
France/Canada/Switzerland/Italy/Qatar/USA 2025, 29 min.
In the cold business district of La Défense, where steel towers pierce a restless sky and CCTV watches every shadow, a wave of suicides expose the fractures of a crumbling society. Strangers move through the streets like ghosts, bound by the invisible threads of paranoia. In the eerie glow of a collapsing city, destruction may be the only chance for rebirth.
This book accompanies the premiere of the work La Défense Volume III – Demons to Diamonds and brings together for the first time the artist’s complete La Défense trilogy. Its non-linear sequences create new dialogues across the trilogy while offering glimpses behind the scenes of Noujaïm’s collaborative process—from choreographed confrontations with streams of businessmen to intimate moments in the subterranean spaces of Europe’s largest business district. Co-published by Kunsthalle Basel and Mousse Publishing, this volume is both an extension of the exhibition and an autonomous work, offering readers an immersive entry point into Noujaïm’s cinematic world.
Pacific Club, France/Qatar 2023, 16 min.
In 1979, the Pacific Club was opened in the basement of La Défense - the business district of Paris. It was the first nightclub for Arabs from the suburbs; a parallel world of dance, sweat, young loves, and one-night utopias. Azedine, 17 years old at the time, tells us the forgotten story of this club and of this generation who dreamed of integrating into France but who soon came face to face with racism, the AIDS epidemic, and heroin.
To Exist Under Permanent Suspicion, France 2024, 14 min.
Claire (Kayije Kagame), a businesswoman promoting a new skyscraper office in La Défense, faces increasing scrutiny and isolation. The cold, grey offices amplify her loneliness, driving vivid dreams of setting the tower ablaze.
La Défense Volume III – Demons to Diamonds,
France/Canada/Switzerland/Italy/Qatar/USA 2025, 29 min.
In the cold business district of La Défense, where steel towers pierce a restless sky and CCTV watches every shadow, a wave of suicides expose the fractures of a crumbling society. Strangers move through the streets like ghosts, bound by the invisible threads of paranoia. In the eerie glow of a collapsing city, destruction may be the only chance for rebirth.
Valentin Noujaïm (b. 1991, French-Lebanese) graduated from the Screenwriting Department of La Fémis in Paris and was a guest student at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. Noujaïm’s work challenges dominant societal narratives, shedding light on the lives of individuals and communities historically marginalized by systemic discrimination. His films have been selected by numerous prestigious festivals, including CPH:DOX, Visions du Réel, IFFR Rotterdam, DocLisboa, BAFICI, DokuFest, BlackStar Film Festival, Shanghai IFF, and Kurzfilmtage Winterthur. In 2024, his film Pacific Club was shortlisted for the César Award for Best Documentary.
Book tickets
09:00 pm
Fri, 21 Nov 2025
Cinema 1
Ticket information
- All tickets that do not require ID (full price, disabled, income support) can be printed at home or stored in email
- For aged-based concession tickets (under 25, student) please bring relevant ID to collect at the front desk before the event.
Access information
Cinema 1
- Both our Cinemas have step free access from The Mall and are accessible by ramp
- We have 1 wheelchair allocated space with a seat for a companion
- All seats are hard back, have a crushed velvet feel and they do not recline
- These are our seat size dimensions: W 42 x D 45 x H 52
- Arm rest either side of the seat dimensions: L 27 x W 7 x H 20
for the following requirements:
- We have unassigned seating. If you require a specific seat, please reserve this in advance
- Free for visitors where ticket prices are a barrier, please email
All films are ad-free and 18+ unless otherwise stated, and start with a 10 min. curated selection of trailers.
Members+ and all Patrons gain free entry to all cinema screenings, exhibitions, talks, and more.
Join today as a Member+ for £25/month.
no. 236848.