Olivier Assayas

Life and career

Assayas was born in Paris, France, the son of French director/screenwriter Raymond Assayas, alias Jacques Rémy, and Catherine de Károlyi, a fashion designer. His father was of Turkish-Jewish origin and had settled in Italy before France. His mother was Protestant and of Hungarian origin.{{cite web|title=2. Michka Assayas (rediffusion)

Assayas started his career in the industry by helping his father. He ghostwrote episodes for TV shows his father was working on when his health failed. In a 2010 interview, Assayas said his main political influences when growing up were Guy Debord and George Orwell. Of the 1968 May uprising to overthrow Charles de Gaulle, Assayas said: "I was defined by the politics of May '68, but for me May '68 was an anti-totalitarian uprising. People seemed to forget that at the occupied Odéon theater, you had crossed flags-black and red, and I was on the side of the black element."

Assayas's biggest hit to date is Irma Vep, starring Maggie Cheung. It is a tribute to both French director Louis Feuillade and Hong Kong cinema.

While working at Cahiers du cinéma, Assayas wrote lovingly about both European and Asian film directors he admired. He has made a documentary, HHH: A Portrait of Hou Hsiao-hsien, about Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien.

Assayas married Cheung in 1998. They divorced in 2001, but their relationship remained amicable. In 2004, she starred in his film Clean.

He met actress-director Mia Hansen-Løve when Hansen-Løve, 17 at the time, starred in Assayas's 1998 feature Late August, Early September. He has said they "didn't get together until [she] was 20". They separated in 2017.

In 2009 and 2010, Assayas signed two petitions in support of director Roman Polanski, who had been detained in Switzerland while traveling to a film festival in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse charges in the United States and had long been in exile from the U.S. The first petition argued that the detention would undermine the tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely". It said that arresting filmmakers traveling to neutral countries could open the door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects".

Assayas directed and co-wrote the 2010 French television miniseries Carlos, about the life of the terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez. Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez won the César Award for Most Promising Actor in 2011 for his performance as Carlos.

In April 2011, it was announced that Assayas would be a member of the jury for the main competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Assayas's 2012 film Something in the Air was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. Assayas won the Osella for Best Screenplay at Venice. His 2014 film Clouds of Sils Maria was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Sils Maria won the Louis Delluc Prize and garnered six César Award nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Kristen Stewart won a César Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2016, Assayas won Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival) for Personal Shopper, which also starred Stewart.

In June 2017, it was announced that Assayas would preside over the 2017 Locarno Film Festival.

Style and influences

In an interview with Nick Pinkerton of Reverse Shot, Assayas talked about his influences:

In the 2012 Sight & Sound directors' poll, Assayas listed his ten favorite films as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Ludwig, A Man Escaped, Mirror, Napoléon, Playtime, The Rules of the Game, The Tree of Life, and Van Gogh.

Filmography

Film

As a writer only

• Passage secret (1985)
• Rendez-vous (1985)
• L'Unique (1986)
• Scene of the Crime (1986)
• Avril brisé (1987)
• Filha da Mãe (1990)
• Alice and Martin (1998)
• Based on a True Story (2017) - Co-written with Roman Polanski

Television

Short films

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. "Olivier Assayas Interview".
2. "Michka Assayas Ecrivain et journaliste français". Evene.
3. (27 August 2007). "Olivier Assayas • Great Director profile • Senses of Cinema".
4. White, Rob. (Winter 2010). "Interview with Olivier Assayas". Film Quarterly.
5. Morris, Octavia. (27 June 2010). "The film that changed my life: Mia Hansen-Løve". guardian.co.uk.
6. "A guide to the tender films of Mia Hansen-Løve".
7. (2012-06-04). "Le cinéma soutient Roman Polanski / Petition for Roman Polanski - SACD".
8. (September 29, 2009). "Release Polanski, demands petition by film industry luminaries". The Guardian.
9. (11 May 2010). "Pétition des nominés à Cannes en faveur de Roman Polanski".
10. (11 May 2010). "Polanski Petition: A Gesture of Solidarity and an Appeal to Swiss Justice".
11. (12 May 2010). "French directors sign Polanski petition at Cannes".
12. (20 April 2011). "The Jury of the 64th Festival de Cannes". Cannes.
13. "Venezia 69". labiennale.
14. "Official Awards of the 69th Venice Film Festival". labiennale.
15. "2014 Official Selection". Cannes.
16. Keslassy, Elsa. (16 December 2014). "Olivier Assayas' 'Sils Maria' Wins Louis Delluc Prize".
17. [[César Award for Best Supporting Actress]]
18. Tartaglione, Nancy. (22 May 2016). "Ken Loach's 'I, Daniel Blake' Takes Palme D'Or; Director Joins Double-Winners Club – Cannes".
19. (29 June 2017). "Olivier Assayas to Preside Over Locarn Film Festival".
20. Pinkerton, Nick. "Another interview with Olivier Assayas". Reverse Shot.
21. "Olivier Assayas". BFI.