With a Little Help from Myself

François Dupeyron (born 1950) is a French film director and screenwriter. He has directed 17 films since 1977. A former IDHEC graduate, François Dupeyron was quickly noticed with a series of short films, particularly La Nuit du Hibou and Lamento, respectively, 1985 César for Best Short Documentary Film and 1988 César for Best Short Fiction Film. After the critically-acclaimed anti-war film Officer’s Ward , screened in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film festival, his adaptation of a novel by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Monsieur Ibrahim, led by the stellar Omar Sharif (2004 César for Best Actor), was nominated for a Golden Globe in the category Best Foreign Film. Dupeyron has worked extensively with actor Gérard Depardieu, from his first feature A Strange Place to Meet (1988), to the fantasy thriller The Machine (1991) and the drama The Bridge (1999), co-directed by Depardieu. Dupeyron has also directed Love Reinvented, a TV series dealing with AIDS, and he co-wrote The Favorite Son with Nicole Garcia and Jacques Fieschi. —colcoa.org