Advertisement

Michel Hazanavicius, Bérénice Bejo, Michel Franco, Rithy Panh to Deliver Sarajevo Masterclasses

Director Michel Hazanavicius and actress Bérénice Bejo, Oscar winner and Oscar nominee respectively for “The Artist,” will present individual Masterclasses at the 26th Sarajevo Film Festival this year. Also delivering Masterclasses are directors Michel Franco and Rithy Panh.

The Masterclasses, which like the rest of the festival are running online via ondemand.sff.ban, are organized in cooperation with Variety, and will be available worldwide via the Variety Streaming Room.

More from Variety

Hazanavicius shot his first feature-length film, “Mes Amis,” in 1999. In 2006, he directed his second feature, “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies,” and then, three years later, “OSS 17: Lost in Rio.”

In 2011, he made “The Artist,” the silent, black-and-white film starring Bejo and Jean Dujardin, which won five Academy Awards in 2012, including best film, director and actor for Dujardin, while Bejo was an Oscar nominee for supporting actress.

The film premiered at Cannes, as did Hazanavicius’ “The Players” and “Redoubtable.”

Bejo, one of France’s leading actresses, started her career in 1998 with Abdelkrim Bahlo’s “Les Soeurs Hamlet.” In 2000, Gérard Jugnot gave Bejo her first lead role in “Most Promising Young Actress.” After that she acted in the U.S. production “A Knight’s Tale,” alongside Heath Ledger, in 2001.

On her return to France, Bejo worked with directors like Laurent Bouhnik and Marie-France Pisier. Bejo also acted in Hazanavicius’ 2006 comedy “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies.”

Bejo won best actress at Cannes in 2013 for Asghar Farhadi’s “The Past.”

Further recent roles encompass films like Joachim Lafosse’s “After Love,” Tran-Anh Hung’s “Eternity,” Marco Bellocchio’s “Sweet Dreams,” Ken Scott’s “The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir,” Pablo Trapero’s “La Quietud” and Fred Cavayé’s “The Game.”

She just finished shooting Tom Shoval’s “Shake Your Cares Away” and Sergio Castellitto’s “Un Drago a Forma Di Nuvola.”

Franco’s debut feature, “Daniel and Ana,” was selected for the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes. He has won critical acclaim for “After Lucia,” which won the award for best film in Un Certain Regard in 2012, and “Chronic,” which took the screenplay award at Cannes in 2015.

Franco produced Gabriel Ripstein’s “600 Miles,” winner of the first feature award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2015, and Lorenzo Vigas’ “From Afar,” which took the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2015.

His latest film, “April’s Daughter,” was selected for Un Certain Regard in 2017, where it won the Jury Prize.

Through his company Lucia Films, Franco is developing several feature-length films and television projects.

Panh fled the Khmer Rouge dictatorship in Cambodia and came to Paris in 1980, where he studied at La Fémis. His 2003 documentary “S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine” addressed the Khmer Rouge’s policy of systematic extermination between 1975 and 1979. He is co-founder of the Centre Bophana, which is dedicated to archiving Cambodian film heritage. His 2013 documentary film “The Missing Picture” was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the top prize.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.