Edmond Séchan (20 September 1919 in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

– 7 June 2002 in

Courbevoie Courbevoie () is a Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is a suburb of Paris, from the Kilometre zero, center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the ci ...

) was a French cinematographer and film director.

Biography

Passionate about image, Séchan earned a reputation as an excellent director of photography and is credited in several notable films such as '' That Man from Rio'', '' Tendre Voyou'', ''

La Carapate ''La Carapate'' is a 1978 French comedy film directed by Gérard Oury Gérard Oury (; born Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum; 29 April 1919 – 20 July 2006) was a French film director, actor and writer. Life and career Max-Gérard Houry-Tannenbau ...

'' and '' La Boum''. He worked with great directors ( Jean Becker, Jean-Pierre Mocky,

Philippe de Broca Philippe Claude Alex de Broca de Ferrussac (; 15 March 1933 – 26 November 2004) was a French film director. He directed 30 full-length feature films, including the highly successful ''That Man from Rio (''L'Homme de Rio'')'', ''Le Magnifique, ...

, Pierre Étaix), but most notably with

Louis Malle Louis Marie Malle (; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a filmmaker difficult to pin down", Malle made document ...

and

Jacques-Yves Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the A ...

on ''

The Silent World ''The Silent World'' () is a 1956 French documentary film co-directed by Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle. One of the first films to use underwater cinematography to show the ocean depths in color, its title derives from Cousteau's 1953 book ' ...

''. Attracted to directing, Séchan made two feature films in the 1960s, which were not successful. On the other hand, his short films earned him a harvest of prestigious prizes: ''Le Haricot'', (

Short Film Palme d'Or Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known a ...

at Cannes in 1963) and ''Toine'' ( César du meilleur court métrage in 1981). Most especially, he belongs to the small French circle to have won Oscars in Hollywood, in 1960 with '' The Golden Fish'', produced by Cousteau, in the category

Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is an award presented at the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The award has existed, under numerous names, since 1957. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate awards, ''Best Short Subject, On ...

, and in 1975 with ''

One-Eyed Men Are Kings ''One-Eyed Men Are Kings'' () is a 1974 French short film directed by Michel Leroy and Edmond Séchan. It won an Academy Awards, Oscar in 47th Academy Awards, 1975 for Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, Best Short Subject. The Academ ...

'', in collaboration with Michel Leroy, produced by Paul Claudon. Edmond Séchan is the uncle of French singer

Renaud Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan (; born 11 May 1952 in Paris), known as Renaud, is a French singer-songwriter. With twenty-six albums to his credit, selling nearly twenty million copies, he is one of France's most popular singers. Several of h ...

. Renaud and his brother make an appearance in '' The Red Balloon'', a movie in which Séchan worked as

director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

Select filmography

Director

* '' Niok l'éléphant'' (1957) * '' The Golden Fish'' - short (1959) * '' L'Ours'' (1960) * '' Le Haricot'' - short (Short Film Palme d'Or) (1960) * (1968) * ''

'' - Academy Award 1975 for Best Short Subject. (1974) * ''Photo souvenir'' - telefilm (1978) * ''

Toine Toine is a Dutch language, Dutch given name and a nickname with both masculine and feminine uses. It is a short form of Antoine and a diminutive form of Antonius, Anton (given name), Anton, Antoon, Anthonis, Anthoon, Antonie (given name), Antonie, a ...

'' - short (1980) * '' Les Travailleurs de la mer'', TV miniseries (1986)

Screenwriter

* (1968)

Cinematographer

* '' Crin-Blanc'', directed by

Albert Lamorisse Albert Lamorisse (; 13 January 1922 – 2 June 1970) was a French filmmaker, film producer, and writer of short films which he began making in the late 1940s. He also invented the strategic board game ''Risk'' in 1957. Life Lamorisse was born ...

(1953) * '' Le Monde du silence'' (''The Silent World''), documentary, directed by

(1955) * '' Le Ballon rouge'' directed by

(1956) * '' Les Aventures d'Arsène Lupin'' directed by

Jacques Becker Jacques Becker (; 15 September 1906 – 21 February 1960) was a French film director and screenwriter. His films, made during the 1940s and 1950s, encompassed a wide variety of genres, and they were admired by some of the filmmakers who led th ...

(1957) * '' Fugitive in Saigon'' directed by Marcel Camus (1957) * '' Les Dragueurs'' directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky (1959) * '' The Triumph of Michael Strogoff'' directed by

Victor Tourjansky Victor Tourjansky ( 4 March 1891 – 13 August 1976), born Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Turzhansky (), was a Russian actor, screenwriter and film director who emigrated after the Russian Revolution (1917), Russian Revolution of 1917. He worked in F ...

(1961) * '' That Man from Rio'' directed by

(1963) * '' Échappement libre'' directed by Jean Becker (1964) * '' La Grande frousse'' directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky (1964) * '' Heaven on One's Head (Le Ciel sur la tête)'' directed by

Yves Ciampi Yves Ciampi (; 9 February 1921 – 5 November 1982) was a French film director. He was married to Japanese actress Kishi Keiko from 1957 to 1975. His 1965 film ''Heaven on One's Head'' was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festiv ...

(1965) * '' Les Tribulations d'un chinois en Chine'' (''Up to His Ears'') directed by

(1965) * '' Le Gendarme à New York'' directed by Jean Girault (1965) * '' Monnaie de singe'' directed by

Yves Robert Yves Robert (; 19 June 1920 – 10 May 2002) was a French actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. Life and career Robert was born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. In his teens, he went to Paris to pursue a career in acting, starting w ...

(1965) * '' Tendre Voyou'' directed by Jean Becker (1966) * '' All Mad About Him'' directed by Norbert Carbonnaux (1967) * '' À cœur joie'' (''Two Weeks in September'') directed by Serge Bourguignon (1967) * '' La Pince à ongles'', short directed by

Jean-Claude Carrière Jean-Claude Carrière (; 17 September 1931 – 8 February 2021) was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing '' Heureux Anniversaire'' (1963), and was later conferred an Honorar ...

(1969) * ''

Sur un arbre perché ''Perched on a Tree'' (French title: ''Sur un arbre perché'') is a 1971 French language, French comedy film, directed by Serge Korber, written by Pierre Roustang, and starring Louis de Funès. Plot Henri Roubier (Louis de Funès), a highway in ...

'' directed by

Serge Korber Serge Korber (1 February 1936 – 23 January 2022) was a French film director and screenwriter. He directed more than 40 films between 1962 and 2007. Successful as the director of comedies starring Louis de Funès in ''L'homme orchestre'' and '' ...

(1970) * '' D'amour et d'eau fraîche'' directed by Jean-Pierre Blanc (1975) * '' Monsieur Papa'' directed by Philippe Monnier (1977) * ''

Les petits câlins ''The Little Wheedlers'' (or ''Les petits câlins'') is a French comedy film directed by Jean-Marie Poiré. Plot ''The Little Wheedlers'' tells the story of three Parisian friends who live in the same dwelling. The first (Sylvie) is Salesmen cloth ...

'' directed by

Jean-Marie Poiré Jean-Marie Poiré (; born 10 July 1945), also credited as Jean-Marie Gaubert, is a French film director, and screenwriter. He is the son of the producer Alain Poiré. Filmography As director * ''Les petits câlins'' (''The Little Wheedlers'') (19 ...

(1978) * ''

'' directed by

Gérard Oury Gérard Oury (; born Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum; 29 April 1919 – 20 July 2006) was a French film director, actor and writer. Life and career Max-Gérard Houry-Tannenbaum was the only son of Serge Tannenbaum, a violinist of Russian-Jewish or ...

(1978) * ''

L'Esprit de famille ''L'Esprit de famille'' is a Belgian novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the ...

'' directed by Jean-Pierre Blanc (1978) * '' La Boum'' directed by

Claude Pinoteau Claude Pinoteau (; 25 May 1925 – 5 October 2012) was a French film director and scriptwriter. Born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts de Seine, Île-de-France (region), Île-de-France, France. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, aged 87. (in French) ...

(1980) * '' La Boum 2'' directed by

(1982) * '' Jamais avant le mariage'' directed by Daniel Ceccaldi (1982) * '' La Septième Cible'' directed by

(1984) * '' Les Morfalous'' directed by Henri Verneuil (1984) * '' Joyeuses Pâques'' (''Happy Easter'') directed by

Georges Lautner Georges Lautner (; 24 January 1926 – 22 November 2013) was a French film director and screenwriter, known primarily for his comedies created in collaboration with screenwriter Michel Audiard. Lautner's ventures into other genres were less ...

(1984)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sechan, Edmond 1919 births 2002 deaths Directors of Live Action Short Film Academy Award winners French cinematographers French film directors Mass media people from Montpellier Institut des hautes études cinématographiques alumni