Encyclopedia of French Film Directors

918 • SCHOENDOERFFER, FRÉDÉRIC
France / Hong Kong) and screenwriter (1999 Prise au
Piège, TV, Jérôme Enrico).
Filmography
1978 Trocadéro bleu Citron (also screenwriter, dialogist)
1984 Un Eté d’Enfer / Un verano d’infi erno (also
screenwriter, dialogist; France / Spain)
1987 Les Nouveaux Tricheurs (also screenwriter, dialogist)
Television Filmography
1989 Bordertown / Les Deux font la Loi (co-director
only; USA / France / Canada)
SCHOENDOERFFER, FRÉDÉRIC (October 3,
1962, Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France)
The son of director Pierre Schoendoerffer, he began
as an assistant director (1985 A nous les Garçons, Michel
Lang; 1992 Diên Biên Phu, Pierre Schoendoerffer;
Sabine j’imagine, TV, Dennis Berry; 1995 Le Parasite, TV,
Patrick Dewolf; 1997 Le Bonheur est un Mensonge, TV,
Patrick Dewolf). He played in MR 73 (Olivier Marchal,
2008) and produced a video documentary on the
shooting of his fi lm Truands (2007 Truands: Dans les
Coulisses du Film (video, Julien Lecat).
Filmography
2000 Scènes de Crime (also co-screenwriter, codialogist;
shot in 1998–1999)
2004 Agents secrets / Agentes secretos (also coscreenwriter;
France / Italy / Spain)
2007 Truands / UK: Paris Lockdown (also co-screenwriter,
co-dialogist, producer)
SCHOENDOERFFER, PIERRE (May 5, 1928,
Chamalières, Puy-de-Dôme, France–)
A true lover of adventure who grew up reading Jack
London, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson,
Herman Melville, and Joseph Conrad novels, he sailed
on a Swedish cargo ship as a seaman (1947–1948).
In 1952, he joined the French army and went to Indochina
as a war correspondent for the army’s Cinematographic
Service. Two years later, he took part
in the battle of Diên Biên Phû and was captured by
the Vietminh. Having returned to France, he resumed
his professional activities, collaborating on such magazines
as Paris-Match, Paris-Presse, and Life Magazine
and shooting reports for famous French TV programs
(Cinq Colonnes à la Une; Sept Jours du Monde). Thanks
to writer Joseph Kessel, he directed his fi rst movie
in 1956. His documentary on an American platoon
during the Vietnam War (La Section Anderson / USA:
The Anderson Platoon, 1967) earned him an Academy
Award and the admiration of Howard Hawks, who
planned to hire him to co-direct a motion picture.
Except for his last novel (2003 L’Aile du Papillon,
Grasset), all his literary works were brought to the
screen. In 1989, John Milius adapted his book L’Adieu
au Roi (Farewell to the King). He has two sons, director
Frédéric Schoendoerffer (b. 1962) and actor Ludovic
Schoendoerffer.
Filmography
1957 Thau le Pêcheur (short)
1959 La Passe du Diable / I fi gli di Gengis-Khan / El
desfi laredo del diablo (co-director with Jacques
Dupont; France / Italy / Spain; shot in 1956)
Ramuntcho (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter,
co-dialogist)
Pêcheur d’Islande (also co-screenwriter, coadapter)
1963 Attention . . . Hélicoptère (documentary; short)
1965 La 317e Section / UK and USA: 317th Platoon /
317th Section (also original novel, screenwriter,
adapter, dialogist; France / Italy / Spain)
1966 Objectif: 500 Millions / Obiettivo 500 millioni /
USA: Objective 500 Million (also co-screenwriter,
co-adapter, co-dialogist; France / Italy)
1972 Sept Jours en Mer (documentary; short)
1977 Le Crabe-Tambour / US video: Drummer-Crab
(also original novel, co-screenwriter, coadapter,
co-dialogist)
1982 L’Honneur d’un Capitaine / USA: A Captain’s
Honor (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist)
1992 Diên Biên Phû (also screenwriter, dialogist,
narrator)
2003 Là-haut, un Roi au-dessus des Nuages (also
original novel, co-screenwriter, co-dialogist;
shot in 2001)
Television Filmography
1967 La Section Anderson / USA: The Anderson Platoon
(documentary)
1972 Sentinelles du matin
1987 Reminiscences (documentary)
SCHPOLIANSKY, BUNNY (Bunny Godillot)
After studying letters, she attended acting classes at
the Cours Florent and the Conservatoire de la Rue