Nicolas Philibert (; born 10 January 1951) is a French

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and actor.

Biography

Philibert's father was a film lecturer and he attended his talks in his youth. This encouraged him to embark on a film career. He started this with

René Allio René Allio (; 3 August 1924, Marseille – 27 March 1995, Paris) was a French film and theater director. Filmography * ''The Shameless Old Lady ''The Shameless Old Lady'' (Original title: ''La Vieille dame indigne'') is a 1965 French film. ...

(1970), as a trainee on ''Les Camisards'' as an assistant on ''Rude Journée pour la reine'' (1973) and assistant-director on ''Moi, Pierre Rivière, ayant égorgé ma mère, ma sœur et mon frère... (1975).'' In 1978 he co-directed with Gérard Mordillat a feature documentary ''His Master's Voice'', in which a dozen bosses of big industrial groups discuss power, leadership, hierarchies and the role of unions. Between 1985 and 1987, he made several films about mountains and adventure for TV, then turned to making feature-length documentaries for theatrical distribution: ''La Ville Louvre'' (1990), '' Le Pays des sourds'' (1992), ''Un animal, des animaux'' (1995), ''La Moindre des choses'' (1996) - at the psychiatric clinic of La Borde, as well as an experimental film with the pupils of the theatre school Théâtre national de Strasbourg, ''Qui sait?'' (1998). In 2001, Nicolas Philibert made '' Être et avoir'', about daily life in a single class school on a small village in the Auvergne. It won the

Prix Louis Delluc The Louis Delluc Prize (french: Prix Louis-Delluc ) is a French film award presented annually since 1937. The award is bestowed to the Best Film and Best First Film of the year on the second week of each December. The jury is composed of 20 members, ...

2002, and became a box office and critical success in France and internationally. The film was screened out of competition at the

2002 Cannes Film Festival The 55th Cannes Film Festival started on 15 May and ran until 26 May 2002. The Palme d'Or went to the Polish-French-German-British co-produced film '' The Pianist'' directed by Roman Polanski. The festival opened with ''Hollywood Ending'', directe ...

. With ''Retour en Normandie'' (2007), he revisited the traces of a previous films, made thirty years earlier by René Allio, with local peasants playing the lead roles. With '' Nénette'' (2010), made at the

Ménagerie du Jardin des plantes The ''ménagerie du Jardin des plantes'' is a zoo in Paris, France, belonging to the botanical garden '' Jardin des Plantes''. Founded in 1794, largely with animals brought from the royal zoo of the Palace of Versailles, abandoned because of the F ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, he produced an intimated portrait of the most famous of its inhabitants a female orang-utang, Nénette, held in captivity for 36 years. ''La Maison de la radio'' (2013), takes us into the heart of the French Radio headquarters in Paris, finding out who inhabits the place and discovering the mysteries of its long corridors. Over the last fifteen years there have been more than 120 retrospectives or 'homages' to Philibert organised internationally including the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

(London) and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

(New York). He was one of the directors invited to nominate his favourite films in the British Film Institute's 2012 poll. He explains, in French, his motivations, his influences (including Agnés Varda) and the history of his career as a documentary film maker, especially the 'impermeable' frontiers between documentary and drama in an interview recorded in April 2012.

Filmography

* ''La voix de son maître'' (1978) * '' Vas-y Lapébie!'' (1988) * '' La ville Louvre'' (1990) * '' Le pays des sourds'' (1992) * ''

Un animal, des animaux The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

'' (1996) * ''

La moindre des choses LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'' (1997) * '' Qui sait?'' (1999) * '' Être et avoir'' (2002) * '' Retour en Normandie'' (2007) * '' Nénette'' (2010) * ''

La maison de la radio LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'' (2013)

References

External links

* (French) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Philibert, Nicolas 1951 births Living people French film directors French male film actors Actors from Nancy, France Mass media people from Nancy, France