Abdellatif Kechiche

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Abdellatif Kechiche at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival

Abdellatif Kechiche (born December 7, 1960 in Tunis ) is a French film and theater director , screenwriter and actor of Tunisian origin.

His drama Blue is a warm color about the love affair between two young women was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 .

biography

Theater work

Abdellatif ("Abdel") Kechiche was born in 1960 in Tunis, North Africa . In 1966 his family moved from Tunisia to France, where he grew up in Nice . Kechiche made his first steps towards acting at the local Arènes de Cimiez, where he made his theatrical debut in the García Lorca production Untitled Comedy by Muriel Channey in 1978. From 1979 to 1980 he appeared in Jean-Louis Thamin's production of Edouardo Manet's Un Balcon sur les Andes . He also went on tour with the production of the Parisian Théâtre National de l'Odéon . After his first leading role in the play Garagouze , which was performed in Saint-Étienne in 1980 , his debut as a theater director followed a year later. Kechiche took on the famous play The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria by Fernando Arrabal , which is about a shaman living on a lonely island who comes into unpleasant contact with civilization in the form of a survivor of a plane crash. With the modern variant of this Robinson Crusoe material , which was performed at the Avignon Festival and also played the leading role in the Kechiche, he later also went on guest tours. In 1982 and 1983 Kechiche acted in leading roles in Paul Claudel L'Echange in Nice and Strasbourg and in Jean-Paul Arons Fleurets mouchetés at the Festival de Sarlat again under the direction of Jean-Louis Thamins. From 1987 to 1988 he was a member of the acting ensemble of Jacques Weber's production of Alexandre Dumas ' The Count of Monte Christo , which appeared in Paris, Nice and Lyon , among others . Three years later, Abdellatif Kechiche took to the stage in Lluis Pasqual's Jean Genet production Le Balcon in Paris.

Film career

In addition to working at the theater, Abdellatif Kechiche received his first role in a feature film in 1984. In Abdelkrim Bahloul's tragic comedy Peppermint Tea , Kechiche plays the young Algerian Hamou, whose dream of a successful future in Paris is shattered. Three years later he recommended himself for the part of an arrogant gigolo in André Téchiné's drama The Innocents (1987), in which Sandrine Bonnaire , Jean-Claude Brialy and Simon de La Brosse were his film partners. Kechiche experienced his first success as a film actor in 1992 when he worked with director Nouri Bouzid . In Bouzid's drama Business , he plays the young Tunisian Roufa, who uses his fiancée to get to Europe with the help of a French photographer. For his performance, Kechiche was honored with the Actor Award at the Festival of French-Language Films in Namur , and a year later with the same at the Damas Film Festival.

After working again with Abdelkrim Bahloul on the comedy A Vampire in Paradise , Abdellatif Kechiche worked on a script for his first feature film in 1995. Seven years later, the funding was in place, and he made the film within six weeks of shooting with just one camera. In his directorial debut Voltaire is schuld (2002), co-financed by the Center national du cinéma (CNC), Kechiche portrays a young Tunisian (played by Sami Bouajila ) and his attempts to obtain citizenship in France . The emigrant drama, praised by French critics, won awards at the Namur and Venice film festivals . In Germany, Kechiche's first film, which he himself described as a "pure actor film" , was praised by the film-dienst as a formally "impressive debut film" , but Voltaire is to blame for losing "social and political realities" .

Three years later he succeeded in building on the success of his first film. Together with Ghalia Lacroix , his film partner from Business - The Business with Longing , he worked on the script for the drama L'Esquive (German TV title: Not yes, not no ). With the exception of Sara Forestier, the film is exclusively made up of amateur actors and depicts young people growing up in a dreary suburb of Paris. Krimo (played by Osman Elkharraz ), of Maghrebian descent, desires his beautiful classmate Lydia (Sara Forestier), who stars in the school play of Marivaux 's marriage comedy The Game of Love and Chance . The shy and taciturn boy sneaks into the male lead of the harlequin , but fails in the attempt to gain the favor of his classmate in this way. With six nominations for the most important French film award , the César , L'Esquive was considered an outsider, but surprisingly won the award for the best French film production of the year at the award ceremony , thus defeating the favored entries Mathilde - Eine große Liebe and Die Kinder of Monsieur Mathieu by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Christophe Barratier . Abdellatif Kechiche also received prizes in the directing and screenwriting categories , while leading actress Sara Forestier was honored with the César for best young actress . The film, which, according to Zeit journalist Elisabeth von Thadden, "jeopardizes the French Republic and the freedom of the modern individual in the slum of the immigrants" , moved into the focus of the media again months later when violent riots broke out in France by the Parisians Suburbs expanded to cover the entire country.

After the great success of his second feature film, Abdellatif Kechiche made his English-language film debut as an actor in Sorry, Haters, alongside Robin Wright Penn and Sandra Oh . In the film by the American Jeff Stanzler , which was shot in just fifteen days , he plays the Syrian Ashade, who, despite his doctorate in chemistry, is dependent on a job as a taxi driver in the land of opportunity. In 2007, Kechiche, who adores the works of Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu , completed his third feature film as a director. Like Voltaire is to blame and L'Esquive , couscous with fish focuses again on the life of the North African minority in France and was also almost exclusively cast with amateur actors, including the L'Esquive actors Sabrina Ouazani and Mohamed Benabdeslem. The film tells the story of a 60-year-old unemployed shipyard worker (played by Habib Boufares ) who is divorced from his family. Meanwhile unemployed he takes refuge in his dreams and tries to open a restaurant boat for couscous and fish with his new partner and her daughter .

Couscous with Fish celebrated its world premiere at the 64th Venice Film Festival , where it was represented in the competition for the Golden Lion . Praised for its pictures and its artfully arranged narrative rhythm, Kechiche's film became one of the favorites for the main prize of the festival, but fell behind the Taiwanese Ang Lee ( danger and desire ) and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize and the Marcello Mastroianni Prize awarded for young actress Hafsia Herzi . A few months later the film was awarded the prestigious Louis Delluc Prize and in 2008 four Césars. As in 2005, Kechiche was again successful in the categories of film, directing and for the best original screenplay. In the same year, the Frenchman was awarded the Charles Medal for European media together with the German filmmaker Fatih Akın for his services to integration and identity formation in Europe .

In 2010, Kechiche received another invitation to the competition at the 67th Venice Film Festival for his fourth feature film Vénus noire . The historical drama focuses on the black African slave Sarah Baartman (played by Yahima Torres ), who was presented at British fairs at the beginning of the 19th century as "Hottentot Venus". It aroused the interest of French natural scientists, to whom it served as a research object after a miserable, early death.

He achieved his greatest success to date with his fifth feature film Blue is a Warm Color (2013) based on a comic by Julie Maroh , in which he was once again involved as a director and co-screenwriter. The love story of two young women brought Kechiche and his leading ladies Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux , the Golden Palm of the 66th Cannes Film Festival and won among others the Grand Prix de la FIPRESCI and the British Independent Film Award , New York Film Critics Circle Award and Critics 'Choice Movie Award for best foreign language film production. In 2016, blue is a warm color in a survey by the BBC on the 100 most important films of the 21st century . But there was also a controversy between Kechiche and the leading actresses when they accused him after shooting of having repeated the sex scenes in the film unnecessarily often and for an unusually long time.

In 2017, Kechiche completed his sixth feature film, Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno . In 2017, he received his third invitation to the competition at the Venice Film Festival for the coming-of-age story about a young screenwriter of Tunisian descent, inspired by a novel by François Bégaudeau .

In November 2018, Kechiche was charged with sexual assault after an unnamed actress accused him of assaulting her while she was briefly unconscious.

Filmography (selection)

Director

Screenwriter

actor

  • 1984: Mint tea (Le thé à la menthe)
  • 1987: Mutisme
  • 1987: The Innocents (Les innocents)
  • 1992: A vampire in paradise (Un vampire au paradis)
  • 1992: Business - The business with longing (Bezness)
  • 1996: Marteau rouge (short film)
  • 1997: Le secret de Polichinelle
  • 2002: La boîte magique
  • 2005: Sorry, Haters

Plays

Director

  • 1981: The Architect and Emperor of Assyria (L'architecte et l'empereur d'Assyrie)

actor

  • 1978: Untitled comedy (Sans titre)
  • 1979: Un balcon sur les Andes
  • 1980: Garagouze
  • 1981: The Architect and Emperor of Assyria (L'architecte et l'empereur d'Assyrie)
  • 1982: L'echange
  • 1983: Fleurets mouchetés
  • 1985: Tous aux abris
  • 1987: The Count of Monte Christo (Monte-Cristo)
  • 1991: Le balcon

Awards

Cannes International Film Festival

  • 2013: Golden Palm for the best film (La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitre 1 & 2)

César

  • 2005: Best Film , Best Director and Best Screenplay for L'Esquive
  • 2008 : Best Film , Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Couscous with Fish

Further

Venice International Film Festival

  • 2000: Cinema for Peace Award and Luigi De Laurentiis Prize for Voltaire is to blame
  • 2007: Silver Lion - Grand Jury Prize for Couscous with Fish
  • 2010: nominated for the Golden Lion for Vénus noire

Angers European First Film Festival

  • 2001: European Special Jury Award for Voltaire is to blame

Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema

  • 2005: Special prize for L'Esquive

Damas Film Festival

  • 1993: Best Actor for Business - The Business with Longing

Entrevues Film Festival

  • 2003: Best French Film for L'Esquive

International Istanbul Film Festival

Louis Delluc Prize

  • 2007: Louis Delluc Prize for couscous with fish

French Language Film Festival

  • 2000: Special prize from the jury and Emile Cantillon prize from the youth jury, nominated in the category Best Film for Voltaire is to blame
  • 1992: Best Actor for Business - The Business with Longing

Médaille Charlemagne pour les Médias Européens eV Aachen

Stockholm International Film Festival

  • 2004: Honorable Mention for L'Esquive

literature

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b cf. Liberation interview with Abdellatif Kechiche on koolfilm.de
  2. ↑ cf. film service 12/2002
  3. ↑ cf. Tadden, Elisabeth von: The game of chance . In: Die Zeit 61 (2005), No. 11
  4. ↑ cf. Nord, Christina: In love with colors . In: the daily newspaper , September 4, 2007
  5. ↑ cf. Feldvoss, Marli: All chains broken . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , September 6, 2007
  6. ↑ Director Abdellatif Kechiche: Investigations into sexual assault . In: Spiegel Online . November 1, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 18, 2019]).
  7. ↑ Director Abdellatif Kechiche: Investigations into sexual assault . In: Spiegel Online . November 1, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 18, 2019]).
personal data
SURNAME Kechiche, Abdellatif
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kechiche, Abdel; Kechiche, Abdelatif
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French film director, screenwriter and actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 7, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Tunis , Tunisia