Frédéric Tcheng is a French film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He is best known for his documentaries ''

Dior and I ''Dior and I'' () is a 2014 French documentary film written and directed by Frédéric Tcheng about designer Raf Simons' creative work for Christian Dior S.A. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 17 April 2014. It was released th ...

'', ''

Halston Roy Halston Frowick (April 23, 1932 – March 26, 1990), known mononymously as Halston, was an American fashion designer, who rose to international fame in the 1970s. Halston's minimalist, clean designs, which were often made of cashmere or ...

'', and ''Invisible Beauty''.

Life and career

Tcheng was born and raised in

Lyon, France Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. After studying engineering in Paris, he moved to New York City where he obtained a Masters of Fine Arts from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

's film school in 2007. His first foray into documentary was the 2008 documentary '' Valentino: The Last Emperor'', which he co-produced and co-edited. In 2011, he was the writer and co-director of '' Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel'', which premiered at the

Venice International Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

. Tcheng's solo directorial debut, ''

'', premiered at the 2014

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

. The acclaimed documentary focuses on

Raf Simons Raf Jan Simons (; born 12 January 1968) is a Belgian fashion designer. Beginning in furniture design, Simons launched his own menswear label in 1995. He was creative director at Jil Sander (2005–2012), Christian Dior (2012–2015), and Calvin Kl ...

' first haute couture collection for

Dior Christian Dior SE (), commonly known as Dior, is a French Multinational corporation, multinational luxury goods company that is controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH. , Dior controlled around 42% of ...

. Also in 2014, he served as a jury member at the

Warsaw film festival Warsaw Film Festival (; WFF), also known as Warsaw International Film Festival, is an annual international film festival held every October in Warsaw, Poland. The 40th edition of the festival will take place from 11 to 20 October 2024. Histor ...

and CPH:DOX. From 2018 to 2019, he served as a filmmaking mentor for

Queer art Queer art, also known as LGBT+ art or queer aesthetics, broadly refers to Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary visual art practices that draw on LGBT, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and various non-heterosexual, non-cisgend ...

, a non-profit arts organization that serves a diverse community of

LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

artists. In 2019, he directed the documentary ''

'' for

CNN Films Cable News Network Films (known as CNN Films) is a motion picture division of CNN under Warner Bros. Pictures, originally launched in 2012. Its first film, ''Girl Rising'' premiered in spring 2013 in the United States. History On October 8, 201 ...

and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

. The film reframes the story of the American designer

as a business thriller and premiered at

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. Tcheng's latest film, ''Invisible Beauty'', about model and activist

Bethann Hardison Bethann Hardison is an American fashion model and activist. Hardison became one of the first high-profile black models after her appearance at the 1973 Battle of Versailles fashion show. She is also known for her activism on diversity in the fa ...

, premiered at the

2023 Sundance Film Festival The 2023 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to 29, 2023. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 7, 2022. Films U.S. Dramatic Competition * '' The Accidental Getaway Driver'', directed by Sing J. Lee ...

. Tcheng co-wrote and co-directed the film, along with Hardison. Tcheng also served as an editor on the second season of the

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 ...

series ''

Making a Murderer ''Making a Murderer'' is an American true crime documentary television series written and directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. The show tells the story of Steven Avery, a man from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who served 18 years in priso ...

'', and a cinematographer on the documentary ''

King Georges ''King Georges'' is a 2015 American documentary film written and directed by Erika Frankel. The film follows world-renowned French chef Georges Perrier, and his downfall that saw his Philadelphia-based Le Bec-Fin restaurant shutter. Synopsis T ...

''.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* French film directors French screenwriters French cinematographers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Columbia University School of the Arts alumni {{France-film-director-stub