Dougnac, Jean-Pierre

(May 27, 1933, Paris, France - September 27, 2006, Férolles-Attilly, Seine-et-Marne, France)

   He grew up in the Caribbean until age twelve. He studied for entrance to the Ecole Normale Supérieure but had an accident that thwarted his project. He frequented assidously the French Cinematheque and attended Gregory Chmara's acting courses. A stage actor from 1960 to 1965, he directed fourteen plays written by such authors as John Osborne, Bertolt Brecht, Racine, and Molière. He authored a play (Robert le Diable) and made his directing debut on TV (Casimir et Caroline; Naïves Hirondelles). He also played in films (1978 Molière, Ariane Mnouchkine; 1979 Mireille dans la Vie des Autres, Jean-Marie Buchet, Belgium; 1983 Le Bâtard, Bertrand Van Effenterre; Stella, Laurent Heynemann), TV movies (1966 Le Destin de Rossel, Jean Prat; 1975 La Croisée, Raoul Sangla; 1983 Elle voulait faire du Cinéma, Caroline Huppert), and TV miniseries (1978 Mamma Rosa ou la Farce du Destin, Raoul Sangla; Molière, 5 X 60', Ariane Mnouchkine; Les Chemins de l'Exil ou les dernières Années de Jean-Jacques Rousseau / Fluchts in Exil / The Roads of Exile, Claude Goretta, France / Belgium / West Germany / Switzerland / UK / USA). From 1969 to 1989, he directed institutional films. He was a teacher at the IDHEC (1974-1978); visiting scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles (film and TV department from 1989 to 1992); and teacher at the ESAD (1999-2001) and collaborated on the review Cinématographe under the pseudonym of Mathieu Mangon (1979-1980). He died of emphysema.

 Filmography

1967 ◘ La Poussette (short)

1980 ◘ Alain Resnais et Henri Laborit (16-mm documentary; short)

        ◘ Robert Enrico (16-mm documentary; short)

1984 ◘ Un Amour interdit / Una strana passione (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist; France / Italy / Canada)

1986 ◘ Cinquantenaire de la Cinémathèque Française (16-mm documentary; short)

        ◘ Le Musée de la Villette (16-mm documentary; short)

        ◘ La Ruche (16-mm documentary; short)

    1989 - Emmanuelle Béart (16-mm documentary; short)