Denis Gheerbrant

Denis Gheerbrant is a French filmmaker born in Paris in 1948, whose work continues the tradition of direct cinema, but in the first person. After studying at IDHEC, Denis Gheerbrant became director of photography for the cinema. At the same time, he pursued a personal career as a photographer. In 1968, he joined the militant cinema group Cinélutte, which later became the production company Les Films d'Ici, where he produced almost all his films. In 1978, he shot his first film, Printemps de square, with young Parisians from a neighbourhood in the 15th arrondissement. Gheerbrant films alone, and with his camera he encounters other people's worlds, whether through ongoing relationships or chance encounters. His human and political commitment takes him to those who face and endure social, or simply physical, violence (La vie est immense et pleine de dangers, 1994; Big As The World 1998) or on wide-ranging explorations (And Life, 1991; The Trip to The Sea, 2002; After, A Journey Through Rwanda, 2004). In 2009, his film The Republic Marseille caused a stir at the Cinéma du réel festival. Five years later, We, Striking(2014), a film about the struggle of chambermaids against Europe's second-largest hotel group, was released. Film after film, his cinema of encounters with others asserts itself, culminating in the magnificent Mallé in His Exile (2016). Denis Gheerbrant's cinema follows a very singular line - in the tradition of Jean Rouch and Johan van der Keuken - that has greatly influenced documentary cinema.