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Jean-Pierre Jeunet: A Life in Pictures

20 December 2011
Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet at his BAFTA Life in Pictures event at Academy Headquarters, 17 February 2010BAFTA

The French director of films such as Amélie and A Very Long Engagement talks about his career and work.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential directors in contemporary French cinema, having garnered both commercial success and critical esteem in genres such as science fiction, fantasy, romantic comedy, and the war epic.

His films often engage with key aspects of French history and contemporary French culture. His distinctive imaginative eye has propelled his career from strength to strength, earning him three BAFTAs along the way.

I try to play with everything in the box... to create the most beautiful film.

In his Life in Pictures the man behind films including BAFTA-winning Amélie, Delicatessen, Alien: Resurrection, A Very Long Engagement and Micmacs reveals his rejection of the Nouvelle Vague genre and talks about the aspiration to create films somewhat removed from reality.

Watch Jeunet recount memories of his outstanding career from the first time he held a camera to his reluctant journey to Hollywood: