Lydie Wisshaupt-Claudel

Lydie Wisshaupt-Claudel resides in Brussels since 2001. She studied editing at the Higher National Institute of Performing Arts (INSAS). After graduating in 2006, she made her directorial debut with There's still light (Il y a encore de la lumière), a travel journal in Iceland on how to face solitude. Her first documentary feature Sideroads (2012) emerged following a long road trip in the American West: along with her partner, she met Americans wavering between faith and disillusion towards the American Dream. During the journey, she came across the California military town of Twentynine Palms, where she came back to direct Killing Time - entre deux fronts, her third documentary, that has won multiple awards and international recognition in festivals in 2015. Her new feature documentary, Leading Lights (Éclaireuses), invites us to question our educational system and biases, through the observation of the daily work and research led by two teachers, working with previously unschooled children, most of whom are in exile. Today, she works alternately as a film director and editor, believing that both practices are complementary and enrich one another.