Isidore Bethel is a French- American

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

who was among ''Filmmaker'''s "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in 2020 and

DOC NYC Doc NYC (stylized as DOC NYC) is an annual documentary film festival in New York City. Co-founded by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, the festival is the country's largest documentary film festival with over 300 films and events and 250 specia ...

's "40 Under 40" in 2023. The films he edits, directs, and produces use filmmaking to make sense of overwhelming experiences and tackle recurrent themes of displacement, sexuality, aging, trauma, grief, therapy, and art-making. His first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

as director, ''Liam'', premiered at the Boston LGBT Film Festival in 2018 and received the Jury Prize in the documentary section of the Paris LGBTQ+ Film Festival. His second film, ''Acts of Love'', which French actor

Francis Leplay Francis Leplay is a French actor, film director and novelist. Education and career An alumnus of France's National Academy of Dramatic Arts and Sciences Po, Leplay began acting on television in episodes of the French detective series ''Julie L ...

co-directed, premiered at

Hot Docs The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

, received the Tacoma Film Festival's Best Feature Award, and appeared on

MovieWeb Valnet, Inc. is a Canadian media company established in August 2012 by Hassan and Sam Youssef in Montreal, Quebec. It operates primarily in the entertainment media industry, where it has sought to acquire producers of content in this space. In ...

's list of the top LGBTQ+ films of 2021. Films he has edited have screened at

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

, and the

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

, in museums such as 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 (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, the Beirut Art Center, and the

Pompidou Center The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

, and on broadcast platforms such as '' POV'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

Op-Docs, and

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. He has worked in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

with directors such as

Dominique Cabrera Dominique Cabrera (born 21 December 1957) is a French film director. She has taught filmmaking at La Fémis and at Harvard University. Her film '' Nadia et les hippopotames'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film ...

Jean-Xavier de Lestrade Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (born 1 July 1963) is a French writer, director and producer of films and television series. Early life and education Lestrade was born in Mirande, Gers, in southwestern France. He studied law and journalism in Paris, an ...

Juan Pablo González Juan Pablo González (born August 13, 1984) is a Mexican film director, screenwriter and editor known for his 2018 film Caballerango, and the 2022 Sundance award winner Dos Estaciones. His work primarily focuses on the Los Altos de Jalisco, Los Al ...

, Laurent Bécue-Renard, Juan Manuel Sepúlveda, Daniel Hymanson, and Iliana Sosa. He has also collaborated with filmmakers in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He acts as a producer on many of the films that he edits, which have received support from the

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by actor Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and compo ...

, the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

Field of Vision The visual field is "that portion of space in which objects are visible at the same moment during steady fixation of the gaze in one direction"; in ophthalmology and neurology the emphasis is mostly on the structure inside the visual field and it i ...

, the CNC in France, and Mexico's IMCINE and

FONCA The National Endowment for Culture and Arts (''Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes,'' FONCA) is a public agency of the Mexican federal government, attached to the National Council for Culture and the Arts (Conaculta). Funding for FONCA co ...

funds. Critics have characterized his editing as demonstrative of "admirable restraint," "tender," "astute," and "elegant." He has served on juries for the Paris LGBTQ+ Film Festival, the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

, and the National Film Festival for Talented Youth. A graduate of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

, and the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a Private university, private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which gr ...

, Bethel has received funding from the

Institut Français The Institut Français (; French capitalization, Institut français; "French institute") is a French public industrial and commercial organization (EPIC). Started in 1907 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for promoting French, francophone as ...

, France's

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

region, the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation, and the

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private, independent foundation which provides scholarship programs to gifted students in the U.S. who have financial need. It offers academic advising and other support services to students from 8th grade to ...

as well as support from

Berlinale Talents Berlinale Talents, formerly Berlinale Talent Campus, is the talent development programme of the Berlin International Film Festival (also called Berlinale). An annual summit and networking platform for 200 outstanding creatives from the fields of ...

, the

Tribeca Film Institute The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) is a non-profit arts organization based in New York City, founded in 2001 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff following the September 11 attacks as a means to revitalize the arts community in lowe ...

, the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...

, the Gotham, Film Independent, the Logan Nonfiction Program, and Eurodoc. He has taught at

Stone Soup Stone Soup is a European Folklore, folk story in which hungry strangers convince the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal. In varying traditions, the stone has been replaced with other common inedib ...

's filmmaking workshop,

Sundance A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony. Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to: Places ;Canada * Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town ;United States * Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated pl ...

's Art of Editing fellowship,

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

's Paris campus,

La Fémis La Fémis (French: ''École nationale supérieure des Métiers de l'Image et du Son''; "National Institute for Professional Image and Sound", formerly known as the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques, IDHEC) is a French grande écol ...

, and

Parsons Paris Parsons Paris is a degree-granting school of art and design in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the European branch campus of Parsons School of Design and part of The New School, a comprehensive university in New York City. Academ ...

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethel, Isidore Film directors from Georgia (U.S. state) American film editors École Normale Supérieure alumni Harvard University alumni School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni French film directors French film editors American LGBTQ film directors LGBTQ film producers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people French film producers Film producers from Georgia (U.S. state) French LGBTQ film directors LGBTQ people from Georgia (U.S. state) Mass media people from Atlanta