Bruno Dumont
Encyclopedia
Bruno DumontBruno Dumont (born 1958, Bailleul
, France
) is a French
film director
. To date, he has directed five feature films, all of which border somewhere between realistic drama and the avant-garde. His films have won several awards at the Cannes Film Festival
. Two of Dumont's films have won the Grand Prix
award: both L'Humanité
(1999) and Flandres
(2006). Dumont's Hadewijch won the 2009 Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) for Special Presentation at the Toronto Film Festival, and will be distributed in France in 2009, and by IFC in the U.S. in 2010.
Dumont has a background of Greek and German (Western) philosophy, and of corporate video.http://www.mastersofcinema.org/reviews/dumont.htm His films often show the ugliness of extreme violence
and provocative sexual behavior, and are usually classified as art film
s. Dumont has himself likened his films to visual arts
, and he typically uses long takes, close-ups of people's bodies, and story lines involving extreme emotions. Dumont does not write traditional scripts for his films. Instead, he writes complete novels which are then the basis for his filmmaking.
He says that some of his favorite filmmakers are Stanley Kubrick
, Ingmar Bergman
, Pier Paolo Pasolini
, Roberto Rossellini
, and Abbas Kiarostami
. He is frequently considered an artistic heir to Robert Bresson
.
His -- extremely divisive -- work has been connected to a recent French cinéma du corps/cinema of the body, encompassing contemporary films by Claire Denis, Marina de Van, Gaspar Noé, Diane Bertrand, and Francois Ozon, among others. According to Tim Palmer, this trajectory includes a focus on states of corporeality in and of themselves, independent of narrative exposition or character psychology. In a more pejorative vein, James Quandt has also talked some of this group of filmmakers, as the so-called New French Extremity.
Most recently Dumont's film Outside Satan
premiered in the Un Certain Regard
section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
.
Official website: MoC Series website for 'La vie de Jésus'
Interviews and articles
Bailleul, Nord
Bailleul is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It is located in French Flanders near Lille.-Heraldry:-Media:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) is a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. To date, he has directed five feature films, all of which border somewhere between realistic drama and the avant-garde. His films have won several awards at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
. Two of Dumont's films have won the Grand Prix
Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival)
The Grand Prix is an award of the Cannes Film Festival bestowed by the jury of the festival on one of the competing feature films. It is the second-most prestigious prize of the festival after the Palme d'Or...
award: both L'Humanité
Humanité
Humanité is a 1999 film directed by Bruno Dumont. It tells the story of a detective who has lost touch with his emotions, and who investigates the murder of a little girl.-Plot:...
(1999) and Flandres
Flanders (film)
Flanders is a 2006 French film written and directed by Bruno Dumont. It tells the story of Demester, a man whose girlfriend cheats on him out of frustration with his lack of emotion...
(2006). Dumont's Hadewijch won the 2009 Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) for Special Presentation at the Toronto Film Festival, and will be distributed in France in 2009, and by IFC in the U.S. in 2010.
Dumont has a background of Greek and German (Western) philosophy, and of corporate video.http://www.mastersofcinema.org/reviews/dumont.htm His films often show the ugliness of extreme violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
and provocative sexual behavior, and are usually classified as art film
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
s. Dumont has himself likened his films to visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
, and he typically uses long takes, close-ups of people's bodies, and story lines involving extreme emotions. Dumont does not write traditional scripts for his films. Instead, he writes complete novels which are then the basis for his filmmaking.
He says that some of his favorite filmmakers are Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
, Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
, Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...
, Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta to the movement.-Early life:Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had...
, and Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami is an internationally acclaimed Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1970, Kiarostami has been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries...
. He is frequently considered an artistic heir to Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson
-Life and career:Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe, Puy-de-Dôme, the son of Marie-Élisabeth and Léon Bresson. Little is known of his early life and the year of his birth, 1901 or 1907, varies depending on the source. He was educated at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris, and...
.
His -- extremely divisive -- work has been connected to a recent French cinéma du corps/cinema of the body, encompassing contemporary films by Claire Denis, Marina de Van, Gaspar Noé, Diane Bertrand, and Francois Ozon, among others. According to Tim Palmer, this trajectory includes a focus on states of corporeality in and of themselves, independent of narrative exposition or character psychology. In a more pejorative vein, James Quandt has also talked some of this group of filmmakers, as the so-called New French Extremity.
Most recently Dumont's film Outside Satan
Outside Satan
Outside Satan is a 2011 French drama film written and directed by Bruno Dumont. It was filmed under the production title L'Empire, which means "The Empire"...
premiered in the Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection. It is run at the Salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or.This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob...
section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
2011 Cannes Film Festival
The 64th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 11 to May 22, 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition...
.
Feature films
- La vie de JésusLa vie de JésusLa vie de Jésus is the 1997 debut feature film by director Bruno Dumont. It was the winner of the prestigious BFI Sutherland Trophy, Camera d’Or at Cannes, the Prix Jean Vigo and European Discovery of the Year at the European Film Awards.-Controversy:Dumont included extreme close-ups of...
/ The Life of Jesus (1997) - L'humanitéL'HumanitéL'Humanité , formerly the daily newspaper linked to the French Communist Party , was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International...
/ Humanity (1999) - Twentynine PalmsTwentynine Palms (film)Twentynine Palms is a 2003 film directed by Bruno Dumont.The film depicts a man, the photographer David, and woman, his Russian girlfriend Katja, who venture into the desert town of Twentynine Palms to search for nature motives for a photo shooting. Katja hardly speaks English and David no Russian...
(2003) - FlandresFlanders (film)Flanders is a 2006 French film written and directed by Bruno Dumont. It tells the story of Demester, a man whose girlfriend cheats on him out of frustration with his lack of emotion...
/ Flanders (2006) - HadewijchHadewijch (film)Hadewijch is a 2009 French film directed by Bruno Dumont. It won the International Film Critics' award at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.-Plot:...
(2009) - Outside SatanOutside SatanOutside Satan is a 2011 French drama film written and directed by Bruno Dumont. It was filmed under the production title L'Empire, which means "The Empire"...
(2011)
Short films
- Paris (1993)
- Marie et Freddy / Marie and Freddy (1994)
DVD Releases
- La vie de Jésus - Director-approved Masters of Cinema Series edition - Released in the UK 21 July 2008
Official website: MoC Series website for 'La vie de Jésus'
External links
- Official site
- IMDb entry
- Flandres official site
- Twentynine Palms official site
- Masters of Cinema article
- Dumont's notes on Twentynine Palms
Interviews and articles
- Interview with Bruno Dumont, MUBI
- World Socialist Web Site 20 October 1997
- Indie Wire 15 May 1998
- Time Out New York 15 June 2000
- Fluctuat about L’Humanité (french)
- Senses of Cinema March 2002
- Kinok 14 September 2003
- Film de Culte (french)
- Village Voice 30 March 2004
- Indie Wire 9 April 2004
- Cineuropa 23 May 2006
- Fluctuat 23 August 2006 (french)
- Premiere 28 August 2006 (french)
- Telerama 2 September 2006 (french)
- DVDrama 24 September 2006 (french)
- Film de Culte September 2006 (french)
- New Statesman 9 April 2007
- Photos of Bruno Dumont from The San Sebastian Film Festival, October 2009
- Life magazine