René Vautier: Movies & Box Office

René Vautier was a French film director born on January 15, 1928, in Camaret-sur-Mer, Finistère, France. He was the son of a factory worker and a teacher, and he joined the French Resistance during World War II at just 15 years old. For his militant activity during the war, he received the Croix de guerre and the Order of the Nation from Charles de Gaulle. After the war, he joined the French Communist Party and studied filmmaking at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques, graduating in 1948. Vautier became famous for his controversial films that addressed political and social issues, including the Algerian War, French colonialism in Africa, pollution, racism, women's rights, and apartheid in South Africa. His first film, Afrique 50 (1950), was created when he was just 21 years old after being assigned to visit French West Africa to make an educational film. He was appalled by the conditions he witnessed, including lack of doctors and crimes committed by the French Army. The film was confiscated by police using legislation decreed by Pierre Laval, but Vautier managed to recover enough footage to publish the 17-minute film. It was hailed as the first anti-colonial French film, but he was indicted thirteen times and sentenced to a year in prison. The documentary was banned for forty years. Throughout his prolific career, Vautier made over 180 films, many of which were destroyed by the French government. His notable works include Avoir 20 ans dans les Aurès (1972), which won the International Federation of Film Critics Award at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. He also collaborated with Louis Malle on Humain, trop humain (1973), a film about working conditions in a Citroën car plant. Other films were presented at Cannes, including Mourir pour des images, Comment on devient un ennemi de l'intérieur, Les trois cousins, and Vacances tunisiennes. In January 1973, he went on hunger strike to protest film censorship. He received the Order of the Ermine in 2000 and died on January 4, 2015, at a hospital in Cancale, Brittany.