TSPDT

Key Production Countries: France, Germany
Key Genres: Drama, Comedy, Psychological Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Crime, History, Thriller, Mystery, War
Key Collaborators: Jean Bréhat (Producer), Rachid Bouchareb (Producer), Muriel Merlin (Producer), Basile Belkhiri (Editor), Guillaume Deffontaines (Cinematographer), Yves Cape (Cinematographer), Guy Lecorne (Editor), David Dewaele (Leading Character Actor), Alane Delhaye (Leading Actor), Lise Leplat Prudhomme (Leading Actress), Juliette Binoche (Leading Actress), Bernard Pruvost (Leading Actor)

"The philosopher-turned-filmmaker Bruno Dumont specialises in a despairing view of humanity in which simple country people - typically played by stone-faced, non-professional actors plucked from rural anonymity à la Bresson - disrupt the boredom of their lives with casual sexual couplings that verge on the animalistic. But rather than exploit these unsophisticated souls, as Dumont was accused of doing after the two leads of his miraculous second feature L'Humanité (1999) won the acting prize at cannes Film Festival in 1999, he infuses his characters with unexpected grace and compassion, even when they are confronted with the grimmer aspects of the human condition." - Andrew Bailey (Cinema Now, 2007)

"Bruno Dumont entered the film industry as a self-taught filmmaker. He gained international attention with his feature debut The Life of Jesus (La vie de Jésus, 1997). His provocative works have placed him among contemporary French filmmakers opting for a personal aesthetic style and unsettling subject matter, whose pictures evoke controversy with their naturalistic, taboo-defying approach." - Cineuropa, 2016

"Bruno Dumont is a French film director celebrated for his distinctive style in crafting avant-garde cinema that provokes and challenges its audience. Dumont is best known for his films that engage with the philosophical and spiritual aspects of human existence, utilising the landscapes of his native Northern France as significant elements within his narratives… In recent years, Dumont has experimented with new genres and styles, such as the comedy-drama P’tit Quinquin and the musical Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc. These films showcase Dumont’s versatility as a filmmaker and his willingness to take risks and challenge expectations." - Bronze Screen Dream

"By 2016 Bruno Dumont had directed nine feature films ranging from realist to experimental works. His major preoccupations in these movies were racism, religious fundamentalism, and questions of the sacred and the profane, all of which he represents using a style that focuses mainly upon the on-screen interrogation of physicality in brutally intimate terms. His films feature frank and provocative representations of violence and dispassionate portrayals of sometimes non-simulated sexual encounters, all while being fundamentally aggressive and devoid of romance or empathy. A common theme in his works are antagonistic social relationships that disintegrate into situations so violent that they have invited scrutiny from critics internationally." - Amir Ganjavie (Senses of Cinema, 2017)

"French filmmaker Bruno Dumont is nothing if not a provocateur. His work consistently pushes boundaries, often experimenting with vastly different genres in order to toy with baked-in visual and narrative conventions. Whether he’s operating within a musical, comedy, biopic, horror or coming-of-age film, Dumont’s gaze is always exacting and undeterred, highlighting the oft-ugly (and never easily digestible) intricacies of humanity." - Natalia Keogan (Paste Magazine, 2021)

"Cinema is all about going back from shadow to light and back and forth: cinema is a place of transgression." - Bruno Dumont