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Sylvain Chomet (; born 10 November 1963) is a French
comic
a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...
writer,
animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...
and film director.
Early career
Born in
Maisons-Laffitte
Maisons-Laffitte () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the northern Île-de-France Regions of France, region of France. It is a part of the affluent outer suburbs of northwestern Paris, from its ...
,
Seine-et-Oise
Seine-et-Oise () was the former department of France encompassing the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris.Yvelines
Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.[animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...]
at the Richard Purdum studio. In September of that year, he established a
freelance
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
practice, working on commercials for clients such as Principality,
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
, Swinton and
Swissair
Swissair AG/ S.A. (German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne) was the national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and bankruptcy in 2002.
It was formed from a merger between Bal ...
.
In addition to his animation career, Chomet has created many print comics, starting in 1986 with ''Secrets of the Dragonfly.'' In 1992 Chomet wrote the script for a science fiction comic called ''The Bridge in Mud''. 1993 saw Chomet writing the story for ''Léon-la-Came'', which was drawn by
Nicolas de Crécy for ''
À Suivre
''À Suivre'' or ''A SUIVRE'' (English translation: "To Be Continued") was a Franco-Belgian comics magazine published from February 1978 to December 1997 by the Casterman publishing house. Along with the comic book magazines ''Spirou (magazine), ...
'' magazine. This was published in 1995 and won the
René Goscinny
René Goscinny (, ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Raised largely in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he attended French schoo ...
Prize in 1996. In 1997, Chomet published ''Ugly, Poor, and Sick'', again with de Crécy. This won them the Alph-Art Best Comic Prize at the
Angoulême Comics Festival.
Film career
In 1991, Chomet started work on his first animated film, ''
The Old Lady and the Pigeons
''The Old Lady and the Pigeons'' (french: La vieille dame et les pigeons) is a 1997 animated short film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It tells the slightly surreal story of a starving policeman who dresses up as a pigeon and tricks an ...
'', with backgrounds designed by
Nicolas de Crécy. The short film won him a
BAFTA, the Grand Prize at the 1997
Annecy International Animated Film Festival
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...
, the
Cartoon d'or
The Cartoon d'Or was a European award for animated short films.
History
It was rewarded every year to the best European short film from Cartoon's partner festivals until it was suppressed in favor of the Emile Awards.
Amongst this short list, a j ...
prize, as well as the Audience Prize and Jury Prize at the Angers Premiers Plans Festival. It also received a nomination for an
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...
.
Chomet's first feature-length animated film, ''
The Triplets of Belleville
''The Triplets of Belleville'' (french: Les Triplettes de Belleville) is a 2003 animated comedy film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It was released as ''Belleville Rendez-vous'' in the United Kingdom. The film is Chomet's first feature ...
'' was also nominated for two
Oscars
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
in 2003 (Best Animated Feature and Best Song), and introduced Chomet's name to a much wider audience.
Upon the film's release, de Crécy accused Chomet of plagiarizing his work, citing it as the reason for the dissolution of their collaboration. The visual style of ''The Triplets of Belleville'' closely resembles the earlier work of de Crécy's 1994 graphic novel ''Le Bibendum Céleste''.
In 2004, Chomet founded
Django Films
Django may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Django'' (1966 film), a 1966 Italian Western by Sergio Corbucci which had a particular influence on the Spaghetti Western genre and a number of unofficial prequels and sequels
** ''Django, Prep ...
, an animation studio based in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, Scotland. The studio was set up with the ambition of establishing itself in both animation and live-action filmmaking, but has since been dismantled due to several production difficulties, first losing funding for what was to be the studio's first animated feature, ''Barbacoa'', to have been directed by Chomet. Another major setback was the studio's failure to secure funding for ''The Clan'', an
animated sitcom
An animated sitcom is a subgenre of the sitcom that is animation, animated instead of live action and is generally made or created for adult animation, adult audiences in most cases. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''The Simpsons'', ''South Park'', and ...
for
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
In 2006, he directed a segment for the collaborative film ''
Paris, je t'aime
''Paris, je t'aime'' (; ''Paris, I love you'') is a 2006 anthology film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities. The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different arrondissements (districts). The 22 director ...
''; he was assigned the
7th arrondissement of Paris
The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''le septième''.
The arrondissement, ca ...
segment "Tour Eiffel". It was Chomet's first work in live-action.
After many delays, Chomet directed ''
The Illusionist'', which premiered at the
60th Berlin International Film Festival
The 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2010, with Werner Herzog as President of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Chinese director Wang Quan'an's romantic drama ''Apart Together'', in comp ...
in February 2010. The film was based on an unproduced script that
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, film-maker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted the 46th greatest of all time ...
had written in 1956 as a personal letter to his estranged eldest daughter and stars an animated version of Tati himself.
It was originally conceived by Tati as a journey of love and discovery that takes two characters across
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
to
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. Chomet says that "Tati wanted to move from purely visual comedy and try an emotionally deeper story" and states that "It's not a romance, it's more the relationship between a dad and a daughter".
The film cost an estimated $17 million to make, and was funded by
Pathé Pictures.
In 2013, Chomet directed his first live-action film, the romantic musical-comedy ''
Attila Marcel''. Filming took place in Paris from mid-July 2012 and lasted 46 days. The film premiered in the Special Presentation section at the
2013 Toronto International Film Festival
The 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 5 and 15, 2013. '' The Fifth Estate'' was selected as the opening film and '' Life of Crime'' was the closing film. 75 films were ...
.
Chomet also co-composed the music for the film. It was released in France by Pathé Distribution on 30 October 2013. It had 43,645 admissions in France.
In 2014, a couch gag directed by Chomet aired for the ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' episode "
Diggs". It depicts the family running to the couch until the lights go off. Marge leaves to fix the fuse, and when the lights go up, the characters are drawn ''Triplets of Belleville''-style and everything has a French aesthetic to it. Bart plays with a do-it-yourself
foie gras
Foie gras (, ; ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage (force feeding).
Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy ...
kit, Lisa plays an accordion, Marge cries out, "Maggie? Où est Maggie?" and Homer gets up and eats a snail off the TV, oblivious that Maggie is stuck between his butt cheeks.
In 2015, Chomet directed and co-wrote the animated music video "
Carmen
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...
" for Belgian musician
Stromae
Paul van Haver (; born 12 March 1985), better known by his stage name Stromae (), is a Belgian singer, rapper, songwriter and producer. He is mostly known for his music blending hip hop and electronic music. Stromae came to wide public attenti ...
.
In 2016, Chomet directed the short film ''Merci Monsieur Imada''. Later that year, Chomet produced the illustrations for ''Caleb's Cab'', a children's book written by his wife, Sally.
Unrealized and upcoming projects
In 2004, Chomet announced plans to direct ''Barbacoa'', a film about a group of escaped zoo animals set during the
1871 Paris Commune produced by
Django Films
Django may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Django'' (1966 film), a 1966 Italian Western by Sergio Corbucci which had a particular influence on the Spaghetti Western genre and a number of unofficial prequels and sequels
** ''Django, Prep ...
. Originally stated to be released in late 2005, the film was canceled because of lack of funding. Another production, an unnamed 3D project in collaboration with Miramax division
Dimension Films
Dimension Films is an American film production company owned by Lantern Entertainment. It was formerly used as Harvey and Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company on June 30, 1993, to produce and relea ...
, was also announced.
In 2006,
Django Films
Django may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Django'' (1966 film), a 1966 Italian Western by Sergio Corbucci which had a particular influence on the Spaghetti Western genre and a number of unofficial prequels and sequels
** ''Django, Prep ...
was reported to be producing ''The Clan'', a
animated sitcom
An animated sitcom is a subgenre of the sitcom that is animation, animated instead of live action and is generally made or created for adult animation, adult audiences in most cases. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''The Simpsons'', ''South Park'', and ...
pilot for
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
to be directed by Chomet. The show, described as "manic" and "surreal", was to have focused on the lives of the dysfunctional inhabitants of a fictional Scottish island, and was labeled "a Scottish ''