Trivia

Worked as an assistant director to Wim Wenders (on Paris, Texas (1984) and Wings of Desire (1987)) and Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law (1986)).

Worked as an extra on Robert Bresson's Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971). She can be seen walking by the Seine in a night scene.

Professor at La Femis (Paris).

Studied Economics. She then briefly studied Oriental languages and married a photographer who encouraged her to quit.

As a child, instead of telling her stories, her mother, a lover of the cinema, would "tell" her films.

Raised in colonial French Africa.

Has said that she is not concerned with film theory. In fact, she finds it to be "just a pain in the ass".

Member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 2005.

Holds no auditions for her films.

Before filming Beau Travail (1999), she gave her cast booklets rather than a script, which comprised of the diary of the central character, Galoup, and Hermann Melville's poetry.

Is known for "shooting fast, editing slowly".

Ancient student at L'IDHEC (L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques - now La Fémis).

Was born in Paris, but raised in colonial French Africa, where her father was a civil servant, living in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, French Somaliland, and Senegal. Her father moved with the family every two years because he wanted the children to learn about geography.

In 1969, married a photographer she met at the age of 15, after being hired as his assistant. Due to the complex nature of having him in her private life but also as her teacher, they divorced soon after.

Has appeared in other directors' films, such as Laetitia Masson's En avoir (1995) and Tonie Marshall's Vénus beauté (1999).

Directed the video for the song "Incinerate" by Sonic Youth, from their album Rather Ripped in 2006.

Her first contact with cinema was through King Vidor's War and Peace (1956) and Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali (1955), and damaged American war films that she viewed as a child in Africa.

Rather than rehearse the actual film script, she and her frequent co-writer Jean-Paul Fargeau write alternative scenes to be used during rehearsal periods, in order to encourage improvisation during filming.

Was diagnosed with polio at age 12.

Her career was described as "A Stranger Cinema" by Harvard Film Archive in the 2008 retrospective.

Since 2002 has been a professor of film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.

Was awarded the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award at the Stockholm Film Festival in 2013.

Rehearsed S'en Fout la Mort (1990) using Jean Eustache script's for La Maman et la Putain (1973).

Before applying and being accepted into IDHEC, she worked as an intern at Télé Niger.