Winner:
Ludovic Bource for European Composer
Ludovic Bource for European Composer
Nominations:
European Film
Jean Dujardin for European Actor
Guillaume Schiffman for Carlo Di Palma European Cinematographer Award
Ludovic Bource for European Composer
European Film
Jean Dujardin for European Actor
Guillaume Schiffman for Carlo Di Palma European Cinematographer Award
Ludovic Bource for European Composer
48130
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The Artist France (100:00 min.)
Synopsis
Hollywood 1927. George Valentin is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller, it seems the sky’s the limit – major movie stardom awaits.
Synopsis
Hollywood 1927. George Valentin is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller, it seems the sky’s the limit – major movie stardom awaits.
Director's Statement
Right at the beginning, seven or eight years ago, I fantasized about making a silent film. Probably because the great mythical directors I admire most all come from silent cinema... Hitchcock, Lang, Ford, Lubitsch, Murnau, Billy Wilder (as screenwriter)... But mainly because as a director it makes you face your responsibilities, it makes you tell the story in a very special way. It’s not up to the screenwriter, nor to the actors to tell the story - it really is up to the director. In this genre everything is in the image, in the organisation of the signals you’re sending to the audience. And it’s an emotional cinema, it’s sensorial; the fact that you don’t go through a text brings you back to a basic way of telling a story that only works on the feelings you have created. It’s a fascinating way to work. I thought it would be a magnificent challenge and that if I could manage it, it would be very rewarding. If I said it was a fantasy more than a desire, it’s because each time I mentioned it I’d only get an amused reaction - no one took this seriously. Then the success of the two “OSS” films changed the way people reacted to: “I want to make a silent film.” It wasn’t perceived in quite the same way. But above all, Thomas Langmann is not a producer like others. He didn’t only take what I said seriously, I saw in his eyes that he believed in it. It’s thanks to him that this film became possible. It was no longer a fantasy, but a project. I could start working. I told him I would look for a story, that as soon as I’d found it and it seemed to work, I’d come back and see him...
Right at the beginning, seven or eight years ago, I fantasized about making a silent film. Probably because the great mythical directors I admire most all come from silent cinema... Hitchcock, Lang, Ford, Lubitsch, Murnau, Billy Wilder (as screenwriter)... But mainly because as a director it makes you face your responsibilities, it makes you tell the story in a very special way. It’s not up to the screenwriter, nor to the actors to tell the story - it really is up to the director. In this genre everything is in the image, in the organisation of the signals you’re sending to the audience. And it’s an emotional cinema, it’s sensorial; the fact that you don’t go through a text brings you back to a basic way of telling a story that only works on the feelings you have created. It’s a fascinating way to work. I thought it would be a magnificent challenge and that if I could manage it, it would be very rewarding. If I said it was a fantasy more than a desire, it’s because each time I mentioned it I’d only get an amused reaction - no one took this seriously. Then the success of the two “OSS” films changed the way people reacted to: “I want to make a silent film.” It wasn’t perceived in quite the same way. But above all, Thomas Langmann is not a producer like others. He didn’t only take what I said seriously, I saw in his eyes that he believed in it. It’s thanks to him that this film became possible. It was no longer a fantasy, but a project. I could start working. I told him I would look for a story, that as soon as I’d found it and it seemed to work, I’d come back and see him...
Film Details
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Screenwriter: Michel Hazanavicius
Producer: Thomas Langmann, Emmanuel Montamat
Director of Photography: Guillaume Schiffman
Main Cast: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, James Cromwell, John Goodman
Editor: Anne Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
Production Design: Laurence Bennett
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Screenwriter: Michel Hazanavicius
Producer: Thomas Langmann, Emmanuel Montamat
Director of Photography: Guillaume Schiffman
Main Cast: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, James Cromwell, John Goodman
Editor: Anne Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
Production Design: Laurence Bennett
