Encyclopedia of French Film Directors

560 • KÉCHICHIAN, ROBERT
l’Empereur d’Abyssinie, Arrabal). Already seen in a TV
movie (1982 Un Balcon sur les Andes, Jacques Audoir),
he entered fi lms in 1984 playing supporting roles in
several movies (1984 Le Thé à la Menthe, Abdelkrim
Bahloul; 1987 Les Innocents, André Téchiné; Mutisme,
short, Philippe Ayache; 1992 Bezness / Business—Das
Geschäft mit der Sehnsucht, Nouri Bouzid, Tunisia /
France / Germany; Un Vampire au Paradis, Abdelkrim
Bahloul, shot in 1990–1991; Le Marteau rouge, short,
Lucie Phan, Béatrice Plumet; 1997 Le Secret de Polichinelle,
Franck Landron, shot in 1994–1996; 2002
La Boîte magique / Sanduk ajab, Ridha Behi, France /
Tunisia; 2006 Sorry, Haters, Jeff Stanzler, USA).
Filmography
2001 La Faute à Voltaire / USA: Poetical Refugee (also
screenwriter, dialogist)
2004 L’Esquive / UK and USA: Games of Love and
Chance (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, codialogist)
2006 La Graine et le Mulet (also screenwriter, dialogist)
KÉCHICHIAN, ROBERT
Of Armenian descent, he grew up in Arles, where
he was born, and Issy-les-Moulineaux. From 1963 to
1969, he was a metalworker and fi tter at Thomson
CSF. In 1968, he took part in the general strike and
in the occupation of his factory. He resumed his
studies at the Conservatoire National des Arts et
Métiers and graduated in economics in 1970. He
also earned degrees in history (1972) and modern
letters (1973). He taught in a college until 1984. He
already had worked as a trainee assistant director
on commercials when he was hired as an assistant
to Georges Lautner (1984 Joyeuses Pâques) and then
to Aline Issermann (1986 L’Amant magnifi que, also actor),
Vincent Lombard (1986 Lucky Ravi, unreleased),
Jacques Deray (1987 Maladie d’Amour, also actor;
1989 Les Bois noirs), Philip Kaufman (1988 The Unbearable
Lightness of Being, Philip Kaufman, USA), Olivier
Austen (1991 Jésuit Joe; also actor), Christian Lejalé
(1992 Loulou Graffi ti), Alain Berbérian (1994 La Cité
de la Peur), Edouard Molinaro (1996 Beaumarchais
l’Insolent / USA: Beaumarchais the Scoundrel), Alain
Chabat (1997 Didier, also actor; 1999 Bricol’s Girls,
video, also actor), and Dominique Farrugia (1999
Trafi c d’Infl uence, also actor). Other credits (as second
unit director): 2000 Taxi 2 (Gérard Krawczk); 2002
Astérix et Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre / Asterix & Obelix:
Mission Kleopatra / UK and USA: Asterix & Obelix: Mission
Cleopatra / USA: Asterix and Obelix Meet Cleopatra
(Alain Chabat, also actor, France / Germany, shot in
2000–2001); (as actor only): 1980 La Traque (4 52'
TV miniseries, Philippe Lefebvre); 2003 Perles rares
(short, Pierre Excoffi er, François Hernandez); 2004
RRRrrrr!!! (Alain Chabat).
Filmography
1997 Aram (short; also screenwriter, dialogist)
2002 Aram (also screenwriter, dialogist)
Television Filmography
2005 Brûler Rome! (documentary)
KEIGEL, LÉONARD (Léonard Chosidow / March
4, 1929, London, England, UK–)
Of Russian descent, he is the stepson of Leonid
Keigel, who owned a repertory movie theater and
later co-founded Les Cahiers du Cinema, and the
nephew of Jacques Mage, the proprietor of the exploitation
circuit cinema Cinéphone. From 1947 to
1949, he shot amateur Super-16-mm fi lms. After his
secondary studies, he earned a diploma in letters and
attended aesthetics courses at the Sorbonne. In 1947,
he fi lmed his fi rst 35-mm professional short (Les
Déchaînés) and, two years later, founded “Objectif 49,”
a revolutionary cine-club that gathered such people
as Jean Cocteau, André Bazin, Robert Bresson, Roger
Leenhardt, Jean-Georges Auriol, Raymond Queneau,
Alexandre Astruc, and Jacques Doniol-Valcroze. He
was only twenty years old when he became an assistant
director to René Clément (1950 Le Château
de Verre / L’amante di una notte, France / Italy; 1952
Jeux interdits / UK: The Secret Game / USA: Forbidden
Games; 1954 Monsieur Ripois / UK: Knave of Hearts /
USA: Lovers, Happy Lovers / Lover Boy, France / UK;
1955 Gervaise, France / Italy; 1957 La diga sul Pacifi co
/ The Angry Age, Italy / USA). In 1951, he became
co-owner of Les Cahiers du Cinéma. Manager of a
production company, Les Films de l’Etoile, in 1953, he
directed several shorts, feature-lengths fi lms, and TV
movies until 1983. From 1985 to 2000, he shot many
commercials. He also published articles in Les Lettres
Françaises, Le Quotidien de Paris, and Pariscope.
Filmography
1947 Les Déchaînés (short; also screenwriter, dialogist)
1957 La Vie et l’Oeuvre d’André Malraux (short; also
screenwriter)