Diego Buñuel (born 21 July 1975 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) is a French-American filmmaker and the host and director of the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

series ''

Don't Tell My Mother ''Don't Tell My Mother'' is a television program hosted by Diego Buñuel and shown on the subscription television channel Nat Geo Adventure. Development For the past ten years, Diego Buñuel has been a foreign correspondent for French televi ...

''. He is also the host of a television news show in France called '' Les Nouveaux Explorateurs'', broadcast on Canal Plus. In 2014, he was appointed Director of Documentaries and Factual Entertainment at Canal Plus. In 2018, he joined

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

as Director of Original Documentaries in Europe.

Biography

He is the grandson of Spanish-Mexican film director

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

and son of filmmakers

Juan Luis Buñuel Juan Luis Buñuel (9 November 1934 – 6 December 2017) was a French film and television director, screenwriter, and actor. His films include ''Expulsion of the Devil'' (''Au rendez-vous de la mort joyeuse'', 1973) and ''La Femme aux bottes ...

and

Joyce Buñuel Joyce Sherman Buñuel (; born October 20, 1941) is an American naturalized French film director and screenwriter. Biography Joyce Sherman was born on October 20, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of Russian Jews, Jewish emigrants who c ...

. Diego received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, majoring in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

, minoring in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and then interned for various newspapers such as ''

The Times Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

'' in New Orleans, ''

The San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the H ...

'', the ''

Saint Louis Post Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Democrat'' ...

'', the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

'' and the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' before going to work for the ''

Sun Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its Nameplate (publishing), masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ...

'' as lead crime reporter. In 2000, he did his

French military The French Armed Forces (, ) are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force, and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military ...

service in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and was stationed in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

which led him to a specialization in

war reporting A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the world. O ...

. Back in France, he started working for the press agency CAPA as a

war correspondent A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war, war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the wor ...

. He covered

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, the

2001 US intervention in Afghanistan 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...

, was embedded with the

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

in 2003 for a month as his unit traveled from

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. After that, he went on to follow the

Second Congo War The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War or the Great War of Africa, was a major conflict that began on 2 August 1998, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, just over a year after the First Congo War. The war initially erupted ...

, the

2004 tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

's funeral in

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

and did a special report on the rise of

evangelical Christians Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of the Christian g ...

in '' George Bush's America'', among some 50 other news stories. In 2006, he shot the first episode of the series ''

'', co-produced by

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

and the

, where he offers a new look on rarely traveled areas affected by conflicts and wars such as

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

, Congo,

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

The Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

(

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

and

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

) and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. In 2008, Buñuel created his own production studio named "Buñuel Production" and produced season 2, 3 : Johannesburg-Lagos, Delhi-Dhaka, Beirut- Le Caire, Mexico-São Paulo, Tokyo-Manila, and 4 : Russia, Indonesia, Somalia, Kazakhstan and USA, of his show. He is now producer and director at "Explorer", a company created in conjunction with CAPA. After spending four years travelling to 25 countries, trekking through war zones and mixing it up in the world's mega-cities, Diego Buñuel is now journeying to the far reaches of the planet to discover its forbidden zones. The first episode, ''Siachen: the battleground on the roof of the world'', was completed by the end of 2011. In 2013, he traveled

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

to shoot a documentary titled ''Inside the Maha Kumbh'' will feature Buñuel's experience of living with the

Naga sadhus Naga or NAGA may refer to: Mythology * Nāga, a serpentine deity or race in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions ** Phaya Naga, mythical creatures believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong River ** Naga, another name for Bakunawa, an ...

and learning about the intricacies of the

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

s held there. It was broadcast in 68 countries on

in March 2013. Its reach was widened as it was dubbed in 26 languages. In 2014, Buñuel was named head of documentaries for Groupe Canal Plus in France. He oversaw the rebranding of all factual content and created 'Creation Documentaire', a feature doc film label. Under that label, docs such as Releve, Terror Studios, Exodus, Teddy Riner, Guerriers de l'Ombre, Scam(s) and many others were selected in Cannes, SXSW, Tribeca and for the International Emmy Awards. Exodus, co-produced with the BBC, won the 2017 International Emmy Award for documentary. In 2018, Buñuel joins Netflix in Los Angeles as director of Original Documentaries. A few months later, he relocated to head Netflix’s documentary office in London. In 2019, Buñuel left Netflix by "mutual decision," as he wanted to relocate to Paris. Though Netflix was opening a Paris office, Buñuel was required to stay in London. In 2020, Buñuel was tapped as head of programming at France Televisions. In 2022, Diego Bunuel was named head of développement for France Televisions Studio for Fiction and Docs. The Studio is France’s third largest production house and Diego has also gotten back in front of the camera to host two prime time documentary series. First, Thalassa, a famous adventure TV show about the world’s oceans, and Instinct Animal, about Africa’s wilderness.

External links

*
Video
Why do stories matter? Diego Buñuel at WikiStage ESCP Europe
Qui est Diego Buñuel, directeur des programmes de France Télévisions, accusé de viol ?

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunuel, Diego Living people Medill School of Journalism alumni University of Chicago alumni 1975 births French people of Spanish descent French documentary filmmakers