Jacques Perrin – Leading figure in theatre and cinema
BIO
Jacques Perrin spent his tender years immersed in show business. At the age of 17 he was admitted to the Conservatoire National d’Art Dramatique, a major drama school. Upon leaving the Conservatoire he got a part in an immensely successful play directed by Yves Robert, L’année du Bac. The film director Valerio Zurlini noticed his performance and cast him opposite Claudia Cardinale in the 1961 production Girl with a suitcase, his first big cinema role. In 1964 he played in Pierre Schoendoerffer’s film The 317th Platoon and then, in 1965, in Costa Gavras’ first film The sleeping car murders.
In 1966 he returned to Italy to film with Vittorio de Seta Almost a man (also released as Half a man) for which he received the Volpi Cup for best actor at the Venice Film Festival in 1967. The same year he played Maxence the sailor in Jacques Demy’s The young girls of Rochefort followed in 1970 by the part of Prince Charming in Donkey skin.
At the age of 27 he founded his own production company, Reggane Films, which later became Galatée Films, and produced Costa Gavras’ film Z. The film was a triumph, winning an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Perrin and Gavras continued to collaborate, producing State of Siege in 1972 and Special Section in 1974.
In 1976 he went back to working with Valerio Zurlini for The desert of the Tartars which he also produced, likewise Jean-Jacques Annaud’s first film Black and White in Color (Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film). He continued acting, achieving some commendable successes such as in Pierre Schoendoerffer’s Drummer Crab (1977) or Cinema Paradiso (1988).
In 1989 the director Gérard Vienne revealed the animal world to him with The Monkey Folk and thereafter Jacques Perrin produced several other films about Nature and animals: Microcosmos in 1996 with Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérenou, then Winged Migration in 1997 in collaboration with Jacques Cluzaud and Michel Debats.
In 1999 he produced Himalaya directed by Eric Valli which obtained two César awards. A few years’ later he produced two films directed by Christophe Barratier: The Chorus and Paris 36.
Oceans, which took 5 years to film, was released in over 30 countries with a total audience of over 10 million people all over the world.
In 2010 Oceans won the César award for Best Documentary Film.
Resume
Director
- 1988
- LA MER DE CHINE Film in the collection Médecins des hommes
- directed with A. Corneau, Y. Boisset, M. Bagdadi, L. Heynemann, F. Vancini
- 2001
- WINGED MIGRATION Co-directed with J. Cluzaud and M. Debats
- César 2002 Best Editing – Nomination Oscars 2003 Best Documentary
- 2010
- OCEANS Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud
César 2011 Best Documentary - 2010
- THE EMPIRE OF MID-SOUTH Jacques Perrin and Eric Deroo
- 2016
- SEASONS Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud
Producer
- 1968
- Z Costa Gavras
- Oscars Best Foreign Language Film and Best Editing – Jury Prize and Best Actor Cannes Film Festival 1969 – Golden Globes 1970 Best Foreign Language Film
- 1972
- LA GUERRE D’ALGERIE Yves Courrière
- 1973
- ETAT DE SIEGE Costa Gavras
- Grand Prix Cinéma Français – Nomination Golden Globes 1974 Best Foreign Language Film
- 1974
- LA SPIRALE Jacqueline Meppiel, Valérie Mayoux and Armand Mattelard.
- Collaboration of Chris Marker and Régis Debray
- 1975
- SPECIAL SECTION Costa Gavras
- Louis-Delluc prize – Best Director Prize at Cannes Film Festival 1975 – Nomination Golden Globes 1976 Best Foreign Language Film
- 1976
- BLACK AND WHITE IN COLOR Jean-Jacques Annaud
- Oscar Best Foreign Language Film
- 1977
- THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS Valério Zurlini
- Grand prix Cinéma Français
- Donatello Prize for Best Film and Best Director
- 1978
- L’ADOPTION Marc Grunebaum
- 1981
- THE ROARING FORTIES Christian de Chalonge
- 1988
- THE MONKEY FOLK Gérard Vienne
- Official selection Cannes Film Festival 1989
- 1990
- OUT OF LIFE Maroun Bagdadi
- Jury prize Cannes Film Festival 1991
- 1992
- GUELWAAR Ousmane Sembene
- Gold medal Venice Film Festival 1992
- 1995
- LES ENFANTS DE LUMIERE Pierre Philippe, André Asséo, Pierre Billard, Alain Corneau, Claude Sautet
- One hundred years of French cinema
- Cannes Film Festival 1995
- 1996
- MICROCOSMOS Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou
- 5 César awards (Photography, Music, Editing, Sound, Best Producer) – Cannes Film Festival 1996
- 1999
- HIMALAYA Eric Valli
- 2 César awards (Photography, Music) – Nomination Oscars 2000 Best Foreign Language Film
- 2001
- WINGED MIGRATION Jacques Perrin, Michel Debats and Jacques Cluzaud
- César award 2002 Best Editing – Nomination Oscars 2003 Best Documentary
- 2002
- ELEVEN MINUTES, NINE SECONDS, ONE IMAGE, SEPTEMBER 11TH Collective film by Makhmalbaf, Lelouch, Chahine, Tanovic, Ouedraogo, Loach, Innaritu, Gitaï, Nair, Penn, Imamura
- 2004
- THE CHORUS Christophe Barratier
- César award 2004 Best Music – Nominations Oscars 2005 Best Foreign Language Film and Best Song
- 2008
- TABARLY Pierre Marcel
- 2008
- PARIS 36 Christophe Barratier
- Nomination Oscar 2010 : Song by R.Wagner and F.Thomas
- 2010
- THE EMPIRE OF MID SOUTH Jacques Perrin et Eric Deroo
- 2010
- OCEANS Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud
- César award 2011 Best Documentary
Bixente Lizarazu
For over 20 years now, as I have become increasingly aware of more and more problems with pollution, I have sponsored the Surfrider Foundation and worked with them protecting coasts and oceans and managing waste. Each year, for example, I take part in annual beach clean up campaigns with volunteers and schools.
In 2003 after the sinking of the Prestige and the oil spill that followed I created my own association Liza pour une mer en bleus. In the same spirit I am backing René Heuzey’s initiative and his association An ocean of life.
It’s a simple idea linking the pleasure of diving with the usefulness of cleaning up the ocean bed.
It’s a simple gesture that makes those of us who use the ocean as our playground a little more responsible.