Philippe Petit

Philippe Petit
Period: 2015-2016
Profession: Script writer Cineaste Philippe Petit was born in 1971. After studying cinematography at the ESAV – École Supérieure d’Audiovisuel in Toulouse and a degree in film making at INSAS – Institut Supérieur des Arts in Brussels in 1998, he moved to Paris . His universe is inspired by laying bare characters in crisis in a harsh contemporary reality whose search for freedom calls into question social conventions. He has written and directed several short and medium-length films, including
Primes de Match , presented at the Festival of Clermont-Ferrand in 1998,
Digital Cut (2010), presented at the Festival “Hors Pistes” in Beaubourg, or
Buffer Zone (2014), presented at the FID – “Festival international du documentaire” in Marseille and at the festival “Rencontres du moyen métrage” at Brive. He worked on
Insouciants , a feature film made in 2004 presented at the Némo festival and Danger Dave, presented at the Festival of San Sebastián and which received awards at the  Nordost Film Festival and the Madrid Film Festival in 2014. In 1997 he met Quentin Dupieux with whom he has collaborated on numerous projects. He has also embarked on an acting career. He recently starred in the short film Au Lac by Roland Edzard (2013), in feature films Eden de Mia Hansen Love (2014) and Marie et les Naufragés  by Sebastien Betbeder (2015). Some of his films are collected in Anthologie cinéaste of a punk, a set of DVDs released by Shellac in 2015. The project of Philippe Petit at Villa Medici will be devoted to writing and on-the-spot investigations for a film about the difficulties of a landscape-gardener in his forties who is struggling to make his creative work exist. The film, set in gardens and parks, recalls a visual and sound universe whose reality collides with its image that is often softened and toned down. In a rough and cogent territory, fraught with a vigorous capacity to evoke metaphors, determined Sandor, an ambiguous character (played by the author-director), is engaged in a battle that questions his very nature.