Encyclopedia of French Film Directors

CHANU, VIRGINIE
Besides her own fi lms, she co-wrote screenplays
(1992 Le Citron dans la Tête, short, also actor, Eric
Véniard; 2000 L’Attrape-Rêves, Alain Ross, shot in 1998;
2005 Face à l’Amour, short, Stanley Woodward; 2007
Os, Stanley Woodward).
Filmography
2002 Deuil.Com (short; also screenwriter)
2005 Journées froides qui menacent les Plantes (also
screenwriter, dialogist)
CHAPIER, HENRY (November 14, 1931, Bucharest,
Romania–)
The son of a French international lawyer and an Austrian
actress, he settled in France in 1947. In 1958, he
started a career as a fi lm critic, publishing articles in
Arts, L’Express, and Combat. After directing two documentaries
and two feature fi lms, he entered French
TV in 1978 and notably hosted a talk show from 1987
to 1994 (Le Divan). He played small parts in several
movies (1967 Pop Game / Le Jeu de la Vie, Francis Leroi;
1968 Erotissimo, Gérard Pirès; Les Idoles, Marc’O; 1970
Sortie de Secours, Roger Kahane; 1986 Un Homme et
une Femme, 20 Ans déjà / USA: A Man and a Woman:
20 Years Later, Claude Lelouch; 1988 L’Enfance de
l’Art, Francis Girod; 1997 Comme des Rois / Krolowie
Zycia / USA: Kings for a Day, François Velle; Cinématon,
documentary, short, Gérard Courant). He authored a
monograph on Louis Malle (Editions Seghers, 1964).
Filmography
1968 Un Eté américain (documentary; mediumlength)
1970 Sex-Power
1972 Salut, Jerusalem (documentary)
1974 L’amore (also co-screenwriter)
CHAPIRON, KIM (July 4, 1980, Paris, France–)
The son of graphic artist and painter Kiki Picasso
(Christian Chapiron, b. 1956), he started as an illustrator
in fanzines before working as an informatic
graphics designer and then a special effects editor. In
1995, he co-founded with Romain Gavras an association
of artists, Kourtrajmé.
Filmography
1995 Paradoxe perdu (short; co-director with Romain
Gavras)
CHAPOT, JEAN • 205
1997 Psycho Négro (short)
1999 Pouilledé (short)
2000 Tarubi, l’Arabe strait (short; also screenwriter,
cinematographer, sound editor)
2002 La Barbichette (short; also screenwriter)
2005 Sheitan (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, codialogist)
CHAPOT, JEAN (November 15, 1930, Bois-
Guillaume, Seine-Maritime, France–April 10, 1998,
Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France)
He began playing as an amateur during the occupation
of France. Having graduated with his high school
diploma in Paris, he got a scholarship for studying
American literature at Amherst College, Massachusetts
(one of his teachers was poet Robert Frost).
He traveled across the USA and met Ernest Hemingway
at Havana. Having returned to France in 1951,
he entered the Hautes Etudes Commerciales (High
Business Studies School) but skipped classes to attend
Tania Balachova’s acting courses and to direct
plays in Parisian suburbs. After graduating from the
HEC in 1954, he was hired as an assistant director
by stage and fi lm actor and director Raymond
Rouleau, with whom he worked for four years. He
entered fi lms as an assistant to director Alex Joffé
(1957 Les Fanatiques / I fanatici / UK: The Fanatics /
USA: A Bomb for the Dictator, France / Italy). After being
an assistant to Vittorio de Seta, Yves Ciampi, and
Claude-Jean Bonnardot, he directed industrial fi lms
(1960 Monsieur Fortune) and shorts. He also worked
as a production manager (1963 Les Abysses, Nikos
Papatakis; 1975 Il faut vivre dangereusement, Claude
Makovski; 1979 Charles et Lucie / USA: Charles and
Lucie, also co-screenwriter, Nelly Kaplan; 1991 Plaisir
d’Amour, Nelly Kaplan). Other credits (as assistant
director, co-screenwriter): 1965 Le Ciel sur la Tête /
Allarme dal cielo / Il cielo sulla testa / USA: Skies Above
/ US TV: Sky Above Heaven (Yves Ciampi, France /
Italy); (as co-screenwriter): 1976 Néa / Nea—Ein
Mädchen entdeckt die Liebe / UK: A Young Emmanuelle,
Nelly Kaplan; France / West Germany; 1987 Pattes de
Velours, TV, also actor, Nelly Kaplan; 1999 La Petite Fille
en Costume marin, 2 90', Marc Rivière). Novel: 1997
Les Amants de Saint-Petersbourg (Albin Michel).
Filmography
1960 Monsieur Fortuné (short)
1962 Chronique d’une Epoque incertaine (short)