Claire Simon

Born in London in 1955, Caire Simon is a French scriptwriter, actress, cinematographer, editor and director. As a filmmaker she first directed independent shorts. Her best remembered films of the period are “La police” (1988) and “Scènes de ménage”in 1991, starring Miou-Miou. She then discovered the practice of ‘direct cinema’ with the Ateliers Varan and made several documentaries such as “Les patients” (1989), Coûteque coûte (1995) and Récréations (1998), which garnered multiple awards. Her first fiction feature-length movie, Sinon, oui (1997), the story of a woman who pretends to be pregnant and kidnaps a child, was presented at the Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight in 1997. Her next film, made for TV, Ça, c’est vraiment toi (2000), an original work, half-documentary, half-fiction, filmed within the walls of the European Parliament, is awarded the great prize at the Belfort Film Festival. After an experience in the theater, Claire Simon returned to documentary with 800km de différence – Romance (2002) and Mimi (2003), presented at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2003. Her second fiction film, Çabrûle (2006) was also selected for the Directors’ Fortnight in 2006. In 2008, Les bureaux de Dieu (2008) is another half-fiction, half-documentary work, with famous actors and actresses as the Family Planning counselors and amateur actresses impersonating real-life women who had come for help or guidance. An atypical talent in the French movie world, Claire Simon has been trying for more than two decades to this day – ceaselessly and successfully – to capture the essence of reality.

Selected Works

  • I Want to Talk About Duras
    2021
  • The Grocer's Son, the Mayor, the Village and the World
    2020
  • The Competition (Le Concours)
    2016

Screenings featuring this Filmmaker