Quick Facts
Biography
Jean-Jacques Annaud (born 1 October 1943) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer, best known for directing Quest for Fire (1981), The Name of the Rose (1986), The Bear (1988), The Lover (1992), and Seven Years in Tibet (1997). Annaud has received numerous awards for his work, including five César Awards, one David di Donatello Award, and one National Academy of Cinema Award. Annaud's first film, Black and White in Color (1976), received an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Early life
Jean-Jacques Annaud was born on 1 October 1943 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne in France. He was educated at the technical school in Vaugirard, and in 1964 graduated from the prestigious film school Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (IDHEC) in Paris.
Career
Annaud began his career by directing television advertisements in the late 1960s to early 1970s. In his first feature film, Black and White in Color from 1976, he used personal experience obtained during his own military service in Cameroon. The film won an Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. His third film Quest for Fire (La Guerre du feu) received two Césars for best film and best director.
In 1986, Annaud directed The Name of the Rose, a film adaptation of Umberto Eco's popular novel of the same name. The film version, with a screenplay written by Andrew Birkin, won two BAFTA Film Awards and was the subject of another 14 wins & two nominations. Jean-Jacques Annaud spent four years preparing for the film, traveling throughout the United States as well as Europe, searching for the perfect cast and film set locations. He supposedly felt personally intrigued by the project, among other things because of a lifelong fascination with medieval churches and a great familiarity with Latin and Greek.
For Seven Years in Tibet, a film adaptation of the life of Heinrich Harrer, he reportedly received a lifelong denial of entry to China, along with starring actors Brad Pitt and David Thewlis. In 2012 however, Annaud was invited to chair the jury at the Shanghai Film Festival.
In 2000 he wrote and produced Running Free directed by Sergei Bodrov. He also directed the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates, detailing the exploits of Vassili Zaitsev during the Battle of Stalingrad.
In 2006 Annaud started filming His Majesty Minor, a fantasy-comedy which was filmed in Benitatxell and Benigembla, basically in the district of the Marina Alta, which is located in the Valencian Community.
His latest film is Black Gold, an epic drama set in the 1930s Arab states which premiered in 2011. The film was filmed in Tunisia and Qatar.
Annaud's most recent project is the film adaptation of the award-winning best-selling Chinese novel Wolf Totem.
Filmography
- Black and White in Color (1976, Noirs et Blancs en couleur or La Victoire en chantant)
- Hothead (1979, Coup de tête)
- Quest for Fire (1981, La Guerre du feu)
- The Name of the Rose (1986, Der Name der Rose or Le Nom de la rose)
- The Bear (1988, L'Ours)
- The Lover (1992, L'Amant)
- Wings of Courage (1995, Guillaumet, les ailes du courage)
- Seven Years in Tibet (1997, Sept ans au Tibet)
- Enemy at the Gates (2001, Stalingrad)
- Two Brothers (2004, Deux frères)
- His Majesty Minor (2007, Sa majesté Minor)
- Black Gold (2011, Day of the Falcon or Or Noir)
- Wolf Totem (2015, Le Dernier Loup)
Awards and nominations
- Academy Award
- 1976: Black and White in Color (Won – Best Foreign Language Film)
- César Award
- 1982: Quest for Fire (Won – Best Film)
- 1982: Quest for Fire (Won – Best Director)
- 1987: The Name of the Rose (Won)
- 1988: The Bear (Nomination – Best Film)
- 1988: The Bear (Won – Best Director)
- 1992: The Lover (Nomination)
- David di Donatello
- 1987: The Name of the Rose (Won)
- European Film Academy
- Enemy at the Gates (Nomination)