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Claire Denis
Claire Denis (/dəˈniː/; French: [dəni]; born 21 April 1946) is a French film director and screenwriter. Her feature film Beau Travail (1999) has been called one of the greatest films of the 1990s and of all time. Her work has dealt with themes of colonial and post-colonial West Africa, as well as issues in modern France, and continues to influence European cinematic identity.
Other acclaimed works include Trouble Every Day (2001), 35 Shots of Rum (2008), White Material (2009), High Life (2018) and Both Sides of the Blade (2022), the last of which won her the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival. For Stars at Noon (2022), Denis won the Grand Prix at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, sharing the award with Lukas Dhont's Close.
Denis was born on 21 April 1946 in Paris, but raised in colonial French Africa, where her father was a civil servant, living in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, French Somaliland, and Senegal. Her childhood was spent living in West Africa with her parents and her younger sister coloured her perspective on certain political issues. Their father told them that independence from France would be a good thing for these colonies. Her upbringing was a strong influence on her films, which have dealt with colonialism and post-colonialism in Africa. Her father moved with the family every two years because he wanted the children to learn about geography.
Growing up in West Africa, Denis used to watch old and damaged copies of war films sent from the United States. As an adolescent, she loved to read. Completing the required material while in school, at night she would sneak her mother's detective stories to read. At age 12, Denis was diagnosed with polio and returned to France for treatment. She lived in Sceaux, a suburb of Paris, for the rest of her teenage years. During her time in France, she felt unfit for living in France. She was educated for a life in Africa, and felt completely different from everyone around her.
In 1969, Denis married a photographer she met at the age of 15, after being hired as his assistant. Due to the complex nature of having him in her private life but also as her teacher, they divorced soon after.
Denis initially studied economics, but, she has said, "It was completely suicidal. Everything pissed me off." She then briefly studied Oriental languages and married a photographer who encouraged her to quit. In 1969 Denis studied at IDHEC (L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques – now La Fémis) with her husband's encouragement. He told her she needed to figure out what she wanted to do. She graduated from the IDHEC and since 2002 has been a professor of film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.
Before applying and being accepted into IDHEC, she worked as an intern at Télé Niger. After telling everyone that she wanted to apply to IDHEC, they told her, "no, don't waste your time studying, all you need to do is make films here with us".
After graduating in 1971 and by this time divorced, Denis began working as an assistant director for many acclaimed filmmakers. Such films include Jacques Rivette's Out 1 (1971), Dušan Makavejev's Sweet Movie (1974), Robert Enrico's The Secret and The Old Gun (both 1974) and two further films, Eduardo de Gregorio's Surreal Estate (1976) and Costa-Gavras's Hanna K. (1983). After meeting Wim Wenders, Denis travelled to the U.S. to be the assistant director on Paris, Texas (1984), a few years later again in the States for Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986), and finally a second time for Wenders on Wings of Desire (1987). Wenders has said, "Claire was more than ready to make her own films. It would have been a waste to let her continue working as an assistant director". By working with so many directors Denis realized she wanted to make her own films to have more independence and ownership of her work.
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Claire Denis
Claire Denis (/dəˈniː/; French: [dəni]; born 21 April 1946) is a French film director and screenwriter. Her feature film Beau Travail (1999) has been called one of the greatest films of the 1990s and of all time. Her work has dealt with themes of colonial and post-colonial West Africa, as well as issues in modern France, and continues to influence European cinematic identity.
Other acclaimed works include Trouble Every Day (2001), 35 Shots of Rum (2008), White Material (2009), High Life (2018) and Both Sides of the Blade (2022), the last of which won her the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival. For Stars at Noon (2022), Denis won the Grand Prix at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, sharing the award with Lukas Dhont's Close.
Denis was born on 21 April 1946 in Paris, but raised in colonial French Africa, where her father was a civil servant, living in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, French Somaliland, and Senegal. Her childhood was spent living in West Africa with her parents and her younger sister coloured her perspective on certain political issues. Their father told them that independence from France would be a good thing for these colonies. Her upbringing was a strong influence on her films, which have dealt with colonialism and post-colonialism in Africa. Her father moved with the family every two years because he wanted the children to learn about geography.
Growing up in West Africa, Denis used to watch old and damaged copies of war films sent from the United States. As an adolescent, she loved to read. Completing the required material while in school, at night she would sneak her mother's detective stories to read. At age 12, Denis was diagnosed with polio and returned to France for treatment. She lived in Sceaux, a suburb of Paris, for the rest of her teenage years. During her time in France, she felt unfit for living in France. She was educated for a life in Africa, and felt completely different from everyone around her.
In 1969, Denis married a photographer she met at the age of 15, after being hired as his assistant. Due to the complex nature of having him in her private life but also as her teacher, they divorced soon after.
Denis initially studied economics, but, she has said, "It was completely suicidal. Everything pissed me off." She then briefly studied Oriental languages and married a photographer who encouraged her to quit. In 1969 Denis studied at IDHEC (L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques – now La Fémis) with her husband's encouragement. He told her she needed to figure out what she wanted to do. She graduated from the IDHEC and since 2002 has been a professor of film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.
Before applying and being accepted into IDHEC, she worked as an intern at Télé Niger. After telling everyone that she wanted to apply to IDHEC, they told her, "no, don't waste your time studying, all you need to do is make films here with us".
After graduating in 1971 and by this time divorced, Denis began working as an assistant director for many acclaimed filmmakers. Such films include Jacques Rivette's Out 1 (1971), Dušan Makavejev's Sweet Movie (1974), Robert Enrico's The Secret and The Old Gun (both 1974) and two further films, Eduardo de Gregorio's Surreal Estate (1976) and Costa-Gavras's Hanna K. (1983). After meeting Wim Wenders, Denis travelled to the U.S. to be the assistant director on Paris, Texas (1984), a few years later again in the States for Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986), and finally a second time for Wenders on Wings of Desire (1987). Wenders has said, "Claire was more than ready to make her own films. It would have been a waste to let her continue working as an assistant director". By working with so many directors Denis realized she wanted to make her own films to have more independence and ownership of her work.