Raymond Depardon
- Director
- Cinematographer
- Writer
Raymond Depardon is a photographer, a journalist and a filmmaker, but, above
all, his eyes view humans with compassion. He respects others and is
kind with the reality of their lives. He was born into a family of
farmers in 1942 in Burgundy and went to Paris in 1958, wishing to be a
photographer. He was first taken on as a messenger in an agency and was
sent to take photos of an opening-night at the cinema: the movie was
none other than Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless. He finally established
his own agency, Gamma, together with three reporters, in 1966 'not for
money but for the freedom'. He suggested to set up a cinema department:
'we bought an Eclair- camera and tried to make news-films for
television in addition to taking news-photograhs... It was then that I
learned to hold the camera." When Depardon films people, he is silent.
If one has the impression that he always keeps his eyes lowered in the
face of the world's miseries, it is untrue. Raymond Depardon looks as
through a lattice and reacts like quicksilver, keeping his deepest,
innermost emotion secret, and allow his pictures to speak for
themselves. His films are now screened in all international film
festivals, from Cannes to Hong Kong.
