Dominique Cabrera facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dominique Cabrera
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 21 December 1957 Relizane, Algeria
|
| Occupation | Film director Screenwriter Film critic Professor |
| Years active | 1981–present |
Dominique Cabrera (born 21 December 1957) is a talented French film director. She has also taught filmmaking at famous schools like La Fémis in Paris and Harvard University in the United States. Many of her films have been shown at big international film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlinale, and the Toronto International Film Festival.
Contents
About Dominique Cabrera
Dominique Cabrera was born in 1957 in a place called Relizane in Algeria. When she was five years old, in 1962, her family moved to France. She studied filmmaking at a well-known school in Paris called Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC), which is now known as La Fémis. She graduated in 1981.
Between 1982 and 1993, Dominique Cabrera made five short films. These included both documentaries (films about real life) and fiction films (story films). Two of her films from the 1990s, Chronique d'une banlieue ordinaire and Une poste à la Courneuve, helped her become known as a promising filmmaker.
In 1990, a film producer named Didier Haudepin read one of her scripts. He saw her talent and decided to support her. This support helped her make her first full-length movie, L'autre côté de la mer, six years later.
Dominique Cabrera's Films
Dominique Cabrera's films often explore important social and political ideas. She makes different kinds of films, including documentaries, fiction movies, and even films that mix both styles. Critics say that she doesn't judge the people in her films. Instead, she shows their stories with a sense of wonder and leaves it up to the audience to think about what they see.
Her fiction films often explore themes like family, being a mother, fitting into a new culture, and national history. Because Dominique Cabrera's family came from Algeria (they are called pied-noir), she is very interested in stories about people moving between France and the Maghreb region of North Africa. Her films also often touch on ideas of hope, doubt, and feeling discouraged.
Exploring Culture and History
Her first full-length fiction film, L'autre côté de la mer, looks at how people from different cultures fit into modern French society. The story is about a wealthy French man from Algeria who travels to Paris for eye surgery. His doctor was born in Algeria but grew up in France. Through showing the lives of these two characters and their families, Cabrera explores the lasting effects of Algeria's fight for independence in 1962. This film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 1999, Cabrera made her second feature film, Nadia et les hippopotames. This movie blended real-life documentary parts with a fictional story. Much of the film takes place during a real train workers' strike in France in 1995. It shows actual railroad workers at night during winter.
Personal Stories and New Ways of Filming
Dominique Cabrera also made a film that was like a personal diary, called Demain et encore demain, Journal 1995 (meaning Tomorrow and Tomorrow Again). This film was shown at the Berlinale. It was one of the first full-length movies shot on video to be shown in cinemas in France. This autobiographical film, made in 1995, shows both the difficult and joyful moments in her life. Cabrera put herself into the film, exploring how making a documentary can be like therapy. She showed how her different roles – as a woman, mother, daughter, sister, and partner – helped her understand what it means to be a filmmaker. This film was a big moment in her career.
Different Film Styles
In 2004, Cabrera tried a different style with Folle Embellie. This film is a historical story set in June 1940, during World War II, when cities were being bombed. In this setting, Cabrera tells a story that feels like a fairy tale. It's about people escaping from a mental hospital and finding safety in nature. The film stars a famous actor named Jean-Pierre Léaud. The story was inspired by something Cabrera heard when she worked in a psychiatric hospital in the 1970s.
Le Lait de la Tendresse Humaine is a film where Cabrera most clearly talks about being a mother. It shows a character played by Marilyne Canto who is struggling with postpartum depression (a type of sadness some mothers feel after having a baby). She leaves her family suddenly and hides in a neighbor's apartment. Critics liked this film for its use of color, its kindness towards the characters, and its honest look at a mother's difficulties.
Quand la ville mord was Cabrera's first film based on a book. The story came from a crime novel by Marc Villard. Cabrera made this film for the television channel, France 2.
Working with Actors and Crew
Dominique Cabrera often works with the same actors in her films, like Marilyne Canto, Yolande Moreau, Olivier Gourmet, and Ariane Ascaride. Sometimes she also works with very famous actors, such as Patrick Bruel and Miou-Miou. She believes that seeing these actors can remind viewers of other roles they've played. She has also worked with the same film crew since the 1980s, including her director of photography, Hélène Louvart.
Besides directing, Dominique Cabrera has also acted in three films herself: Un petit cas de conscience, Douches froides, and Belleville-Tokyo.
Her films have received a lot of praise from critics. She has even been nominated for a César Award (a major film award in France) and two nominations at the Cannes Film Festival.
Filmography
Features
- Chronique d'une banlieue ordinaire (1992)
- Rester là-bas (1992)
- Une poste à la Courneuve (1994)
- L'autre côté de la mer (1997)
- Demain et encore demain, journal 1995 (1997)
- Nadia et les hippopotames (2000)
- The Milk of Human Kindness (2001)
- Folle embellie (2004)
- Quand la ville mord (2009)
- Grandir (2013)
- Ça ne peut pas continuer comme ça (2013)
- Corniche Kennedy (2016)
Shorts
- J'ai droit à la parole (1981)
- À trois pas, trésor caché (1984)
- L'art d'aimer (1985)
- La politique du pire (1987)
- Ici là bas (1988), short
- Un balcon au Val Fourré (1990)
- Traverser le jardin (1993)
- Rêves de ville (1993)
- Ranger les photos (2009)
- Goat Milk (2013)
See also
In Spanish: Dominique Cabrera para niños
