Dominique Cabrera (born 21 December 1957) is a French film director. She has taught filmmaking at
La Fémis
La Fémis (French: ''École Nationale Supérieure des Métiers de l'Image et du Son''; "National Superior School for the Professions of Image and Sound", formerly known as the ''Institut des hautes études cinématographiques'', IDHEC) is a Fren ...
and at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. Her film ''
Nadia et les hippopotames'' was screened in the
Un Certain Regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films w ...
section at the
1999 Cannes Film Festival
The 52nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 1999. Canadian filmmaker, actor and author David Cronenberg was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the French–Belgian film ''Rosetta'' by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.
The festiv ...
.
Additionally, her work has screened in the
Berlinale
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
, the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
, the
Vienna International Film Festival
The Vienna International Film Festival, or Viennale, is a film festival taking place every October since 1960 in Vienna, Austria.
The average number of visitors is about 75,000. Traditional cinema venues are ''Gartenbaukino'', ''Urania'', ''Metro ...
, the
Locarno Film Festival
The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, s ...
, the
Rotterdam Film Festival
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...
, and in the
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, it is ...
, among others.
Biography
Dominique Cabrera was born in 1957 in Relizane, Algeria and moved to France as a child in 1962. In 1981, she graduated from Paris' La Fémis film school, then known as the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques.
Between 1982 and 1993, Cabrera directed five short films, documentaries, and works of fiction. Two of her films of the 1990s – ''Chronique d'une banlieue ordinaire'' and ''Une poste à la Courneuve'' – brought Cabrera early recognition.
After reading one of her scripts at a screenwriting competition in 1990, producer
Didier Haudepin
Didier Haudepin (born 15 August 1951) is a French actor, film producer, director and screenwriter. He has appeared in 44 films and television shows, and plays since 1960. His film ''Those Were the Days'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard sec ...
recognized Cabrera as an emerging talent. His support led to the production of her first feature film, ''L'autre côté de la mer'', six years later.
Work
Political engagement spans Cabrera's diverse filmography, which includes documentaries, fiction works, and films combining the two genres. According to some critics, Cabrera does not make moral or ideological judgments about her characters or documentary subjects. Rather, she infuses her images with lyricism, love, and a sense of wonder, leaving judgment up to the viewer.
Her fiction work deals with issues of family, motherhood, cultural assimilation, and national heritage. Cabrera's own ''
pied-noir
The ''Pieds-Noirs'' (; ; ''Pied-Noir''), are the people of French people, French and other White Africans of European ancestry, European descent who were born in Algeria during the French Algeria, period of French rule from 1830 to 1962; the v ...
'' origins inform her interest in issues of assimilation and in the history between France and the
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
. Themes of utopia, doubt, and discouragement also recur across her work.
Cabrera's first
feature-length
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
work of fiction, ''L'autre côté de la mer'', addresses questions of assimilation in contemporary French society. A wealthy French ''pied-noir'' travels to Paris for a
cataract
A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble w ...
operation. The doctor who performs his surgery is Algerian-born but has lived in France since childhood. Through intimate depictions of these two characters and interactions with their families, Cabrera articulates enduring consequences of
Algeria's 1962 struggle for independence. The film screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
Cabrera made her second feature film, ''Nadia et les hippopotames'', in 1999. Arte broadcast an edited version of the film with the title ''Retiens la nuit''. The film combined documentary elements within a larger fictional framework. Much of the film, which takes place during the SNCF's 1995 general strikes, records actual railroad workers at night and in winter.
Cabrera's filmic diary, ''Demain et encore demain, Journal 1995'' (''Tomorrow and Tomorrow Again''), which premiered at the
Berlinale
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
,
was one of the first features shot on video to see a theatrical release in France.
The autobiographical film, made in 1995, alternately depicts the anguish and delight of its creator. Exploring the documentary as a therapeutic process, Cabrera inserts herself into the fabric of the film. Each of her various identities – woman, mother, daughter, sister, lover – informs a growing definition of what it means to be a filmmaker. This film represents a turning point in Cabrera's career. Between ''Demain et encore demain'' in 1998 and her second autobiographical film ''Grandir'', which screened at
ACID Cannes in 2013,
all of her feature-length work was fictional.
''Folle Embellie'' in 2004 represents a venture into period fiction; the film is set in June 1940 amid
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
*Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...
bombing campaigns. Against this backdrop Cabrera evokes a fairy tale about the refuge the natural world offers to the escapees of an asylum. The film features
Jean-Pierre Léaud
Jean-Pierre Léaud, ComM (; born 28 May 1944) is a French actor, known for playing Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut's series of films about that character, beginning with ''The 400 Blows'' (1959). He also worked several times with Jean-Luc God ...
and is based on a story Cabrera heard when she worked in a psychiatric hospital in the 1970s.
''Le Lait de la Tendresse Humaine'' is Cabrera's film that most explicitly addresses issues of motherhood. Marilyne Canto plays a victim of
postpartum depression
Postpartum depression (PPD), also called postnatal depression, is a type of mood disorder associated with childbirth, which can affect both sexes. Symptoms may include extreme sadness, low energy, anxiety, crying episodes, irritability, and chan ...
, who leaves her family without notice and hides in a neighbor's apartment. Critics praised the film for its use of color, its compassion for its characters, and its frank portrayal of a mother's struggle.
''Quand la ville mord'' was Cabrera's first literary adaptation; its plot comes from a novel by Marc Villard which was part of the "Série Noire" crime fiction collection. Cabrera produced the film for the television station,
France 2
France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews.
Since 3:20 CET on 7 ...
. The film was praised for its realistic depiction of a young African woman's forced sex work, for which Cabrera and the film's lead, Aïssa Maïga, met with former sex workers in Paris.
Certain actors, such as Marilyne Canto,
Yolande Moreau
Yolande Moreau (born 27 February 1953) is a Belgian comedian, actress, film director and screenwriter. She has won three César Awards from four nominations.
Career
She made her cinematic debut with director Agnès Varda in two movies: Sept pi ...
,
Olivier Gourmet
Olivier Gourmet (born 22 July 1963) is a Belgian actor.
Gourmet was born in Namur. He won the Best Actor award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for his role in '' Le Fils'' by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. He also appeared in ''La Promesse'' ...
, and
Ariane Ascaride, each appear in more than one of Cabrera's films.
Sometimes she works with more famous actors, such as
Patrick Bruel
Patrick Benguigui (; born 14 May 1959), better known by his stage name Patrick Bruel (), is a French singer-songwriter, actor and professional poker player.
Biography
Early life
Patrick is the son of Pierre Benguigui and Augusta Kammoun, d ...
and
Miou-Miou
Sylvette Herry (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Miou-Miou (), is a French actress. A ten-time César Award nominee, she won the César Award for Best Actress for the 1979 film ''Memoirs of a French Whore''. Her other films inclu ...
. Cabrera suggests that these actors' inclusion in her work subliminally recalls roles they played in previous films . She has consistently worked with the same crew since the 1980s, including her director of photography, Hélène Louvart.
Cabrera has also acted in three films: ''Un petit cas de conscience'' by Marie Claude Treilhou, ''Douches froides'' by Antony Cordier, and ''Belleville-Tokyo'' by Elise Girard.
Her films have received significant critical acclaim, a
César nomination, and two nominations at the Cannes Film Festival.
Filmography
Features
* ''
Chronique d'une banlieue ordinaire'' (1992)
* ''
Rester là-bas'' (1992)
* ''
Une poste à la Courneuve'' (1994)
* ''
L'autre côté de la mer'' (1997)
* ''
Demain et encore demain, journal 1995'' (1997)
* ''
Nadia et les hippopotames'' (2000)
* ''
The Milk of Human Kindness
''The Milk of Human Kindness'' is the third studio album by Canadian musician Dan Snaith, released under the moniker Caribou on April 18, 2005, by The Leaf Label and Domino Recording Company. It is Snaith's first album credited under Caribou, wit ...
'' (2001)
* ''
Folle embellie'' (2004)
* ''
Quand la ville mord'' (2009)
* ''
Grandir'' (2013)
* ''
Ça ne peut pas continuer comme ça'' (2013)
* ''
Corniche Kennedy'' (2016)
Shorts
* ''J'ai droit à la parole'' (1981)
* ''À trois pas, trésor caché'' (1984)
* ''L'art d'aimer'' (1985)
* ''La politique du pire'' (1987)
* ''Ici là bas'' (1988), short
* ''Un balcon au Val Fourré'' (1990)
* ''Traverser le jardin'' (1993)
* ''Rêves de ville'' (1993)
* ''Ranger les photos'' (2009)
* ''Goat Milk'' (2013)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabrera, Dominique
1957 births
Living people
People from Relizane
Pieds-Noirs
French people of Spanish descent
French film directors
French women film directors
French women screenwriters
French screenwriters