French filmmaker will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 49th Laceno d’Oro!
A retrospective will be dedicated to the Master of the cinema of feelings, the “non-orthodox ciné-fils”, appreciated by the public and critics.
See you on December 7th for the evening of honor with a masterclass and the awards ceremony in the company of Arnaud Desplechin!
Born in 1960 in Roubaix and passionate about film, Arnaud Desplechin enrolled in the “directing and cinematography” section of IDHEC. He then started out as a director of photography on several short films. La Vie des morts, his first mid-length film, shot in 1991, won the Jean Vigo Prize. The following year, his first feature film, La Sentinelle (The Sentinel), was selected by the Cannes Film Festival. He became the central figure of young French cinema thanks to several of his subsequent films, including Comment je me suis disputé… (ma vie sexuelle) (My Sex Life… or How I Got Into an Argument, 1996) – where he consolidated his artistic relationship with Mathieu Amalric who then became his “Antoine Doinel” – and Esther Kahn (2000). In 2004, Arnaud Desplechin completed Rois et reine (Kings & Queen), in competition at the Venice Film Festival, with Emmanuel Devos and Mathieu Amalric, both a critical and commercial hit, with Amalric notably winning the César for Best Actor. In 2007, the filmmaker shot the documentary L’Aimée (The Beloved), in which he took on his family’s secrets. Then he cast Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Roussillon in his dramatic comedy Conte de Noël (A Christmas Tale, 2008), starring Mathieu Amalric, Chiara Mastroianni, Emanuelle Devos and Melvil Poupaud as well. In 2013, he went to the United States to shoot Jimmy P. (Jimmy P.: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian), reuniting with his favourite actor Mathieu Amalric, alongside Benicio del Toro. In 2016, he won the César for Best Director for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days, 2015). Arnaud Desplechin went on to stage a successful production of August Strindberg’s The Father at the Comédie Française, followed by Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. In 2017 Les Fantômes d’Ismaël (Ismael’s Ghosts) opened the Cannes Film Festival. In 2019, Roubaix, une lumière (Oh Mercy!), with Léa Seydoux, was selected in competition at Cannes, like most of his previous films. He cast again Léa Seydoux for Tromperie (Deception, 2021). In 2022 Frère et soeur (Brother and Sister) is again on the Croisette. Spectateurs! (Filmlovers!) is screened at the Cannes Film Festival 2024. Now Arnaud Desplechin is on the set again, shooting a new project.