Claire Simon is a French screenwriter, actress, cinematographer, editor, and director.
Early life and education Simon was born in Britain and raised in southern France. She grew up in a family of writers and painters.
She took courses in anthropology and studied Arabic and Berber.
Career Simon first worked in the film world when she did an internship to work as an editor at the Algiers Cinematheque.
In the 1980s, she started to make narrative shorts. She received a scholarship to attend a prestigious documentary workshop led by Jean Rouch, one of the founders of cinéma-vérité.
Distinctions Selections Three of her films have been selected for the Quinzaine des réalisateurs, an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival: Sinon oui in 1997, Ça brûle in 2006, and Les Bureaux de Dieu in 2008.
The film Gare du Nord and the associated Géographie humaine were selected at the Festival international du film francophone de Namur in October 2013. There Gare du Nord was presented in official competition.
In 2013, a retrospective was dedicated to Simon at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The feature films Sinon, oui, Les Bureaux de Dieu, Ça brûle and Gare du Nord were shown. Another retrospective of her works was hosted by the 11th Play-Doc festival in Tui, Galicia.
Our Body was selected for the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival.
Awards She was made an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on January 16, 2014.
Political views In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Simon signed an open letter published in Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.
Filmography Director Short films 1976: Madeleine 1980: Tandis que j’agonise 1981: Moi, non ou l'argent de Patricia 1982: Mon cher Simon 1983: Une journée de vacances 1984: Barres Barres 1988: La Police 1991: Scènes de ménage 1992: Artiste Peintre
Feature films 1997: A Foreign Body (Sinon, oui) 1999: That's Just Like You (Ça, c'est vraiment toi) 2006: On Fire (Ça brûle) 2008: God's Offices (Les Bureaux de Dieu) 2013: Gare du Nord 2021: I Want to Talk About Duras (Vous ne désirez que moi)
Documentaries 1989: Les Patients 1992: Récréations 1995: At All Costs (Coûte que coûte) 2000: 800 km de différence/Romance 2002: Mimi 2013: Human Geography (Géographie humaine) 2016: The Woods Dreams Are Made Of (Le Bois dont les rêves sont faits) 2016: The Competition (Le Concours) 2018: Young Solitude (Premières solitudes) 2020: The Grocer's Son, the Mayor, the Village and the World (Le Fils de l'épicière, le maire, le village et le monde) 2023: Our Body (Notre Corps)
Documentary series 2019: Le Village (20 episodes)
Screenwriter Sinon, oui, 1997 Ça, c'est vraiment toi, (téléfilm) 1999 Ça brûle, 2006 Les Bureaux de Dieu, 2008
Director of photography Récréations (MM), 1992 800 km de différence/Romance (DOC), 2000 Mimi (DOC), 2002 Les Bureaux de Dieu, 2008
Editor 1976: Chantons sous l'Occupation d'André Halimi 1979: La Ville à prendre by Patrick Brunie 1981: Plogoff, des pierres contre des fusils by Nicole Le Garrec 1982: Faux-fuyants by Alain Bergala and Jean-Pierre Limosin 1986: Gardien de la nuit by Jean-Pierre Limosin 2002: 800 km de différence - Romance by Claire Simon 2003: Mimi by Claire Simoin
References