Henri Colpi

Who was Henri Colpi?

Henri Colpi was a French film editor and film director.

Colpi directed the 1961 film Une aussi longue absence, which is well known for sharing the Palme d'Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival with Viridiana, which was directed by Luis Buñuel. Une aussi longue absence was written by Marguerite Duras, featured Alida Valli in a major role, and included music by Georges Delerue. It also won the Louis Delluc Prize in 1960. His second feature Codine was also screening in competition at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, where Colpi won the prize for Best Screenplay.

Colpi is also noted as a film editor with about 20 credits, including Alain Resnais' films Hiroshima mon amour and L'Année dernière à Marienbad.

In addition to directing, editing, acting, sound recording, and a variety of functions in the post-War years, he was featured in a French television series, Histoire du cinéma français par ceux qui l'ont fait in 1974, and he continued to work into the 1990s.