Mostra Internazionale d Arte Cinematografica Venice

VENICE CLASSICS AWARD

BEST DOCUMENTARY ON CINEMA

THE GRADUATION

CLAIRE SIMON

Born in London, Claire Simon is a French scriptwriter, actress, cinematographer, editor and director.

As a filmmaker she first directs independent shorts. Her best remembered films of the period are "La police" (1988) and "Scènes de ménage" in 1991, starring Miou-Miou. She then discovers the practice of 'direct cinema' with the Ateliers Varan and makes several documentaries such as "Les patients" (1989), Coûte que coûte (1995) and Récréations (1998), which garner multiple awards.

Her first fiction feature length movie, Sinon, oui (1997), the story of a woman who pretends to be pregnant and kidnaps a child, is presented at the Cannes Film Festival Directors'Fortnight in 1997. Her next film, made for TV, Ça, c'est vraiment toi (2000), an original work, half-documentary, half-fiction, filmed within the walls of the European Parliament, is awarded the great prize at the Belfort Film Festival.

After an experience in the theater, Claire Simon returns to documentary with 800 km de différence - Romance (2002) and Mimi (2003), presented at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2003. Her second fiction film, Ça brûle (2006) was also selected for the Directors' Fortnight in 2006. In 2008, Les bureaux de Dieu (2008) is another half-fiction half-documentary work, with famous actors and actresses as the Family Planning counselors and amateur actresses impersonating real-life women who had come for help or guidance. In 2013, she chooses to make a film inside a famous train station in Paris and directs Gare du Nord with Nicole Garcia in the main role. In 2015 her last documentary The Woods Dreams Are Made is selected at Locarno Film Festival.