Luc DardenneBirth Place: Awirs, Belgium Date of Birth: March 10, 1954 Heritage: Belgian Contact Luc Dardenne | 
|
|
Rosetta Background: “Film-makers in Belgium are seen as arts and crafts makers. It is a small country. There is not really a film industry there at all.” Luc Dardenne Belgian film director, producer and writer Luc Dardenne has attained the status as the foremost contemporary filmmaker in the Belgian cinema and one of the most critically reputable filmmakers in the world thanks to his fruitful collaboration with his older brother, Jean-Pierre Dardenne (born on April 21, 1951). Selves-characterized “one person with four eyes,” the Dardennes were shot to international stardom with “La Promesse/The Promise” (1996), an art-house hit that received extensive awards on the film festival circuit including the Best Foreign Film prize from the National Society of Film Critics. With their next film, “Rosetta” (1999), the duo set up a record by becoming the first Belgian filmmakers ever to win the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes. The film also brought them Cannes' Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention award, a National Society of Film Critics Award and an Independent Spirit nomination, among others. After “Le fils /The Son” (2002), which nabbed a Cannes Film Festival Award for Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention, Luc and his brothers, who are noted as the creators of vividly naturalistic movies about lower class life in Belgium, regained the Palme d'Or for “L'Enfant/The Child” (2005), which also picked up three César nominations and a Toronto Film Critics Association Award. The pair have also made a number of documentaries for Belgian television through Dérives Productions, a production company they formed in 1975. The Dardennes' new film, “The Silence of Lorna,” is expected to be released in 2008.
Childhood and Family: Luc Dardenne was born on March 10, 1954, in Liège, Belgium. Along with his older brother, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, he was raised in a middle-class family in the propertyless steel town Seraing until his brother was sent to Brussels to study acting with playwright Armand Gatti. Whenever Luc had times, he often visited his brother in Brussels and was invited by Gatti to join his acting troupe. At the time, Luc was still in school. In early 1970s, Luc eventually received his degree in philosophy, , but it was his experience with Gotti that inspired Luc to look into the yeasty and policy-making prospects of film and video with his brother. The brothers then spent several months in their homeland working in cement factory to gain money for video equipment. Later in 1990, Luc returned to Brussels and took a teaching job at the Université Libre. He taught aesthetics and screen-writing.
Career: Holding a degree in philosophy, Liège, Belgium-born and bred Luc Dardenne was influenced to try his hand in filmmaking after spending a time with playwright Armand Gatti during his school years. Along with his older brother Jean-Pierre, he took a job as a cement factory employee at his local and saved the money to purchase video devices. In 1975, the Dardennes established a production company called “Dérives” which aimed to conserve the history of social activism in Belgium and bring it out to a new generation. The company produced numerous documentaries for Belgian television with topics ranging from the Nazi opposition in the southern Walloon region of Belgium (1978's “Le Chant du Rossignol”) to the history of expatriations from Poland (1981's “Leçons d'une Université Volante”). Led by their success in the realm of documentary, the brothers ventured into fiction in 1987 with “Falsch,” a based-on-novel drama/war which they jointly directed and wrote. They did the same duties for the sophomore effort “Je Pense à Vous” (1992) in addition to serving as producers. Although both films earned some good reviews at such prestigious film festivals as the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals, they failed to acquire a wider release beyond Europe and the festival circuit. By this period, the younger Dardenne had moved to Brussels, in which he gave lectures in aesthetics and screen-writing at the Université Libre, a gig he started in 1990. Distance, however, did not prevent the two from working together and in 1994, they set up a new company, “Les Films du Fleuve,” which would become their home in producing fiction films. Thanks to their persistence, Luc and Jean-Pierre eventually scored a huge success with the release of “La Promesse/The Promise” in 1996. A drama about Roger and his teen son, Igor, who make a living by renting apartments to illegal immigrants, the acclaimed film became a festival darling throughout the globes and won a total of 15 awards and 5 nominations, including the Best Foreign Film Awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. In his review of the film, Stanley Kauffmann lined, “The Dardenne brothers… have confessed to a burden. They believe in hope. They insist that under the frenzy of our world, physical and moral, there is quiet.” The gifted pair further cemented their reputation as international filmmakers with their forth film, “Rosetta” (1999), which starred a first time actress Émilie Dequenne in the title role of a young woman living with her alcohol-dependent mother in a trailer park. In addition to bringing Dequenne a Best Actress honor and winning the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival, the drama, which concentrated on the effects of unemployments from the spiritual, philosophical and psychological sides, created a history in the Belgian cinema for being the first film ever to pick up Cannes' esteemed Palme d’Or. It was also named Best Foreign Language Film at the 1998 National Society of Film Critics, won a Joseph Plateau Award for Best Belgian Director and a nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards. Despite their international triumph, Luc and his brother chose to avoid high cost and star molds and maintained the regime to make their rough fictions about working-class lives by persisting with their low-budget creative projects in Liège. In 2002, they launched “Le fils /The Son,” a complex film about revenge and salvation starring Olivier Gourmet as a carpenter who adopts newly released inmate Francis (played by Morgan Marinne) as an apprentice. Also a vital and art-house hit, the drama netted a Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention and a Best Actor honor at Cannes in addition to being nominated for the Palme d’Or. Three years later, they resurfaced with “L’enfant/The Child” (2005), which again won the couple the Palme d’Or at the Cannes, their second win since 1999's “Rosetta.” For their efforts, the two shared César nominations for Best Director, Best Film and Best Writing-Original, a Toronto Film Critics Association for Best Director, among other prizes. In between “The Son” and “The Child,” Luc could also be seen serving as producer on such projects as “Romances de terre et d'eau”(2002), a documentary co-directed by his brother and Andrea Santana, Sólveig Anspach's “Stormy Weather” (2003), Abdelkrim Bahloul's “The Assassinated Sun” (2003) and Costa-Gavras' “The Axe” (2005). He continued to lend his producing talents for the Laurent Herbiet-directed “The Colonel” (2006) and “Vous êtes de la police?,” a crime/comedy for director Romuald Beugnon screened at the Montréal World Film Festival in September 2007. Also in 2007, Luc returned to the director's chair to helm “Dans l'Obscurité,” a segment of “To Each His Cinema.” He shared the directorial credit with his brother. In 2008, Luc and his brother are scheduled to release a new drama film called “The Silence of Lorna.” They direct, script and produce the projects.
|
|
