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Michel Gondry comes to FICM

Administrador

Gondry's visit coincides with that of Mexican actor Gael García Bernal who, on Thursday, will present the four-part documentary program The Invisibles as well as his film The Loneliest Planet by director Julia Loktev. They both worked together in The Science of Sleep (2006), the film shown at the closing ceremony of FICM 2006.

Currently, Gondry is involved in a project that was conceived and directed by him in February 2011 at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris: The Home Movie Factory (L'Usine de films amateurs), a provisional film studio, assessible to all and created with the intention that the public can make its own movies.

The film factory works in the following manner: The participants sign up in the order that they arrive, and following the steps of the creative process, they leave three hours later with their work in DVD, in the style of Be Kind, Rewind, the starting point of this new project.

In the beginning, this project was installed in contemporary art museums for periods of two months (New York, Sao Paolo, Paris, Johannesburg) and Gondry's intention is to install it in other cities around the world.

In the 1970s, the director entered the artistic world with a rock band called Oui, Oui. Gondry illustrated the group's song with his singular aesthetic, full of bold colors, and demonstrating his natural technical skills. Later on, he became a renowned videographer. In this area, he worked with the likes of Chris Cunningham and Spike Jonze, as well as with musical talent, including The White Stripes, Massive Attack, Björk and Draft Punk. The last two launched him to fame with "Around the World." He has also made successful spots for companies like Air France, Gap and Smirnoff.

With the creative help of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman he made his debut with Human Nature (2001) and later worked with him in the popular Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). He also got involved in documentary films with The Thorn in the Heart (L'epine dans le Coeur, 2009), a movie he dedicated to his grandmother.

Gondry was the president of the jury at Cinéfondation and the short film section at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011.