Jean-Jacques Annaud

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), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Enemy at the Gates (2001) and Wolf Totem (2015).

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 Draveil, 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.

After Hot Head, (1979) a French language film that became a cult classic in his homeland, he moved to Kenya, Scotland and Canada to shoot Quest for Fire, (1981) which brought him international recognition. He subsequently won a César - French National Award - for Best Film & for Best Director. He then directed Sean Connery in The Name of the Rose, (1986), which was shot in Italian and German monasteries (César for Best Foreign Film and David Di Donatello for Best Director), the movie is based on Umberto Eco’s eponymous novel  'The Name of the Rose, 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.

He then adapted The Bear’s P.O.V. (César for Best Director, 1988) in the heart of select locations of the Dolomites, Germany, Canada and Austria. He then shot in Vietnam, the adaptation of Marguerite Duras’s autobiographical novel, The Lover (1992), recreating the atmosphere of colonial Indochina. He then set back out to the Canadian Rockies and directed Wings of Courage, the first 3D fiction film ever made in Imax-3D (1995). In 2000 he wrote and produced Running Free directed by Sergei Bodrov.

Jean-Jacques Annaud also worked with Brad Pitt when he directed Seven Years in Tibet shot in Argentina, Canada, Tibet, Nepal and Tyrol. In 2001, he reunited Jude Law and Ed Harris in the hell of the famed battle of Stalingrad (Enemy at the Gates, 2001) completely reconstructed in Germany. Soon after, he flew to the ruins of the temples of Angkor and gave life to Two Brothers, the shooting took place in Cambodia, Thailand and France. The filmmaker then set out to revive ancient Greece (His Majesty Minor, 2007,) shot entirely in Spain, then Arabia of the late ’30's, directing Antonio Banderas in Tunisia and Qatar in Black Gold (2011). In 2015, he adapted Wolf Totem, a Chinese literary phenomenon entirely shot in Inner Mongolia. A global triumph, the film won the (People's Hundred Flowers Award and Golden Rooster) in China and a dozen other trophies around the world.

In 2018, Jean-Jacques Annaud directed Patrick Dempsey in his ten-part TV adaptation of Joël Dicker's best-seller The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair (2018) it was released 22 countries and shot in Canada.

Awards and nominations
Jean-Jacques Annaud is a member of the prestigious Institut de France and received numerous distinctions : Film Award of the National French Academy, Knight of the National Order of Merit, Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters. Winner of the Charlemagne Medal for European Media (Karlsmedaille für die europäischen Medien), he has been internationally awarded and honoured (full list below).


 * 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 - – Best Foreign Film)
 * 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)

Awards and Distinctions Full List

 * 1970 : Special Effects Award at the 17th International Advertising Festival of Venice for the commercial spot Super Shell (Italy).' (Won)
 * 1971 : EuroTV Prize for the commercial spot Crunch (France).' (Won)
 * 1973 : Golden Lions at the 20th International Advertising Film Festival in Cannes for the spots Christofle – The Chinese and Comédie Materna. Silver Lions at the 20th International Advertising Festival for Le Diner and Travesti. Cinema Diploma at the 20th International Advertising Festival in Cannes for the Roll and Roll for Eram spot. First Prize from the Art Directors Club for the commercials Christofle – The Chinese (France). Clio Award for the commercial Christofle – The Chinese (USA).' (Won)
 * 1974 : Silver Lions at the 21st International Advertising Festival in Cannes for the commercial Look Nevada (France).' (Won)
 * 1977 : First Prize from the Art Directors Club for Advert for the commercial Urgo (France).' (Won)
 * 1977 : Academy Award for Best Foreign Film for Black and White in Color (USA), originally released as La Victoire en chantant (1976, France).' (Won)
 * 1978 : Second Prize from the Art Directors Club for Advert for the commercial Dunlopillo (France).' (Won)
 * 1979 : Best Commercial Award for TV for the spot “The Train” for the Kelton brand (France).' (Won)
 * 1982 : César (French National Award) for Best Film and César for Best Director for Quest for Fire (France). This movie also wins 5 Genie Awards (Canada), The Academy Award (USA) and the The British Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling (England)' (Won)
 * 1982 : Jury Member at the 35th Cannes Film Festival (France).
 * 1985 : César for the Best Commercial and Bronze Elephant for the commercial Hertz – The Vultures (France).' (Won)
 * 1987 : César Award for Best Foreign Film for The Name of the Rose (France). René Clair Award at David Di Donatello for Best Art Direction for The Name of the Rose (Italy). Bambi Award for Best Film for The Name of the Rose (Germany). Deutscher Filmpreis Award for Best Art Direction for The Name of the Rose (Germany). Silver Award for Outstanding Feature Film at the German Film Awards for The Name of the Rose (Germany). Golden Screen Award for The Name of the Rose (Germany). Jupiter Award for The Name of the Rose ' (Won)(Germany). Actors and other contributors also wins numerous awards for this motion picture (Bafta, Bavarian Film Awards, David di Donatello Awards, Edgar Allan Poe Awards…).
 * 1988 : National Movie Award for The Bear (Ministry of Culture, France).' (Won)
 * 1989 : César Award for Best Director for The Bear (France). Best Director (Bulgaria) for The Bear. Genesis Award for Best Foreign Film for The Bear (USA).' (Won)
 * 1990 : Officer of Arts and Letters Order (France). Guild of German Art House Cinemas Film Award, Silver Foreign Film for The Bear.' (Won)
 * 1992 : Japanese Film Critic Award for Best Director for The Lover (Japan). The film won the Motion Picture Sound Editors's 1993 Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing Foreign Feature (USA) and the 1993 César Award for Best Music Written for a Film (France).' (Won)
 * 1997 : Guild Film Gold Award from the Guild of German Art House Cinemas (Germany) for Seven Years in Tibet. Best Film of the Year for Seven Years in Tibet (Germany). PFS Award for Peace at the Political Film Society for Seven Years in Tibet (USA).' (Won)
 * 2001 : President of the 27th Festival of American Cinema in Deauville (France).
 * 2004 : Charlemagne Medal for the European Medias (Karlsmedaille für die europäischen Medien) (Germany).' (Won)
 * 2005 : Genesis Award for Best Foreign Film for Two Brothers (USA).' (Won)
 * 2005 : President of the Jury at the 5th Marrakech International Film Festival (Morocco).
 * 2007 : Member of the Institut de France (Paris), elected to chair #3 of the Académie des Beaux-Arts au siège de Gérard Oury (succeeding René Clément), Knight of the National Order of Merit, Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters and Knight of the Order of Academic Palms (France).' (Won)
 * 2012 : President of the Jury at the 16th Shanghai International Film Festival (China).
 * 2015 : President of the jury at the 37th Moscow International Film Festival (Russia). Moscow Film Festival Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to the World Cinema.' (Won)
 * 2015 : Golden Rooster Award for Best Film for Wolf Totem (China); Moscow International Film Festival Special Jury Award for Wolf Totem (Russia); Prague Film Festival Kristian Award for Wolf Totem (Czech Republic); International Bif&st Award for Best Director at Bari International Film Festival (Italy) for Wolf Totem; The CineMerit Award Filmfest München for Wolf Totem (Germany); Best Director at the Macau International Movie Festival for Wolf Totem (Macau) ; Golden Lotus Award Best Picture for Wolf Totem at the Beijing International Film Festival (China) ; Tiantian Award for Best Director for Wolf Totem (China); Jury Award for Best Director at the Beijing College Student Film Festival 2015 for Wolf Totem (China).' (Won)
 * 2016 : People Hundred Flowers Award for Best Film for Wolf Totem (China).' (Won)
 * 2018 : Cinematographer-Director Duo Award to lenser Jean-Marie Dreujou and helmer Jean-Jacques Annaud at the 26th Camerimage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, Nov. 10-17 in Bydgoszcz, Poland.' (Won)