I Will Sleep At Your Place: 20 Years Of Travels And Encounters.

The documentary series "J'irai dormir chez vous" celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2023. It is directed and hosted by Antoine de Maximy, who is also the creator of this original concept. For two decades, this friendly and daring globetrotter has been traveling the world, asking for hospitality from people he meets along the way. He brings back intimate yet non-voyeuristic footage, offering an original perspective on the country he visits.

The most famous adventurer on TV

"I will sleep at your place" is a series of discovery documentaries hosted by Antoine de Maximy since 2003.

For twenty years, this adventurer has been traveling alone to the four corners of the world and trying to invite himself to someone's home. He approaches strangers and asks for hospitality to eat and sleep, in order to show viewers the local way of life.

In two decades, Antoine has become the most famous globe-trotter on television. With his red shirt, backpack, and cameras, he has also inspired other travelers like Nants and Mouts in "Nus et culottés" on France 5 ...

An original concept

"I will sleep at your place" is a discovery program based on the hospitality of the inhabitants of the countries visited. In each episode, Antoine de Maximy meets local people and tries to make friends with people he meets on the street.

According to the concept of the show and its success for 20 years, the best way to discover a country is to meet people and share their daily lives by being invited to eat and sleep at their homes.

The whole point of the experience is to show a country from the inside and film the lives of its inhabitants from their homes, presenting their family, hobbies, and profession.

During his travels, Antoine always tries to offer a gift to his hosts as a thank you for their hospitality, but he only does it at the end of the meeting to not distort the experience and to let the hospitality of the inhabitants speak for itself.

A daring traveler

I'll go to sleep at your place is the first documentary series that Antoine de Maximy proposed as an author on television. In order to be invited to people's homes, the host approaches strangers on the street with a lot of naturalness, good humor, and a fair amount of audacity!

He also has to face possible rejections with an inexhaustible amount of goodwill and humor because his trips abroad are spontaneous and subject to the vagaries of human encounters, outside of the usual tourist conveniences.

Confronted with diverse cultures and communication problems due to the language barrier, Antoine de Maximy experiences varying fortunes during his travels. His show is sometimes compared to the TV game show Pékin express on M6 since the contestants also have to cross unknown countries without any help.

Unique shooting conditions

Another characteristic of these reports is that no cameraman follows Antoine de Maximy in the adventure J’irai dormir chez vous. He carries three cameras himself and has equipped himself with various devices to film himself and his surroundings.

A small-sized camera, attached to the strap of his backpack, allows him to film the people facing him, while another camera attached to an articulated side arm allows him to film himself.

Antoine de Maximy films without ever using a viewfinder to be free to speak naturally to the people he meets. In the field, he says that he travels and films people, but he rarely specifies that the film is intended for television.

Upon his return, the recordings are hardly "arranged" and even encounters that go wrong are kept in the editing to testify to the reality of the journey.

An indefatigable globe-trotter

In 20 years, Antoine de Maximy has traveled around the world. He chooses the countries he visits in the episodes of "J'irai dormir chez vous" based on his desire to discover a particular destination.

The reporter and host has already been to Mali, Quebec, Morocco, Switzerland, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Australia, Vanuatu, Cambodia, China, Japan, India, United Arab Emirates, Romania, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Israel, Polynesia, Portugal, and Finland.

It was in Paraguay that he celebrated the 20th anniversary of this mythical program. Over the course of two decades, the show has been aired on 6 different channels. But, just like its host, it doesn't seem ready to stop!

You can catch Antoine de Maximy's adventures in Paraguay in a new episode airing on Friday, November 3, 2023 at 9:10 PM on RMC Découverte.