Robert Guédiguian

Who is Robert Guédiguian?

Robert Jules Guédiguian is a French film director, actor, screenwriter and producer. Most of his films star Ariane Ascaride and Jean-Pierre Darroussin.

Guédiguian is the son of a German mother and an Armenian father. He evokes his paternal roots in his 2006 film Le Voyage en Armenie. He has a working-class background - his father a worker on the Marseille docks. He early became concerned with political questions and for a while was involved with the French Communist Party. In 2008 he joined the Left Party.

Like Marcel Pagnol and René Allio before him, he anchors his films in social reality, flirting with militancy. His films are strongly marked by the local and regional environment of the city of Marseille, and in particular L'Estaque, for example in Marius et Jeannette. His latest film The Snows of Kilimanjaro premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.