Philippe Borrell
Bio
From Philippe Borrell:
"Philippe Borrel is a French filmmaker, working mostly on documentaries produced mainly for ARTE TV and France Television. His films take on the dystopia & utopia of our times such as the stakes of the Commons and the Free software movement, or the urgency of degrowth and alternatives worlwide, or tranhumanism and the ongoing technological convergence (NBIC), or the side effects of processed food industry on human health worldwide, or democracy & the anti-war movement in the US, or eco-warriors being criminalized while fighting to save our planet…
At the end of 2018, he has completed the production of his tenth documentary film (Temps noir production), dedicated to the Free software movement worldwide and to the stakes of the Commons. This film is available in two versions. The first one - long & original - is entitled "La bataille du Libre" aka "Hacking for the Commons" (87') which was warded for its long original version "La bataille du Libre" with a special mention: "Coup de coeur" by the jury of the 15th Terra Festival (in Guadeloupe) in April 2019, selected at the Festival Cinéma et Droits de l'Homme 2020 in Toulouse, at the International Human Rights Film Festival 2020 in Tunis and at the 15th Festival du Film Vert 2020 in Switzerland as the "flagship" film (film phare) of this edition with 60 public screenings throughout Switzerland in March-April 2020.
After producing "A World Beyond Humans ?" in 2012 about the impact of technology on our lives, his movie "The Invisible (R)evolutions" (2014) deals with the urgency of a major shift of paradigme in a world about to collapse, enslaved by finance and speculation.
Filmography & Resume
Philippe Borrel, filmmaker, director & author.
Philippe Borrel was born in 1966. Graduated from the Centre de Formation des Journalistes (CFJ PARIS) in 1990, he divides his time between directing documentary films and short programmes, mainly for French public television.
At the end of 2018, he has completed the production of his tenth documentary film (Temps noir production), dedicated to the Free software movement worldwide and to the stakes of the Commons. This film is available in two versions. The first one - long & original - is entitled "La bataille du Libre" aka "Hacking for the Commons" (87') and the second one - a shorter version - is entitled "Internet ou la révolution du partage" aka "Hackers For Freedom" (55') which was aired by ARTE TV in France & Germany, in May 2019. Awarded for its long original version "La bataille du Libre" with a special mention: "Coup de coeur" by the jury of the 15th Terra Festival (in Guadeloupe) in April 2019. Selected as part of the Panorama Audience Award at the FreDD 2019 festival in Toulouse. Projected out of competition at the FIDH in Geneva in March 2019. Selected at the Festival Cinéma et Droits de l'Homme 2020 in Toulouse, at the International Human Rights Film Festival 2020 in Tunis and at the 15th Festival du Film Vert 2020 in Switzerland as the "flagship" film (film phare) of this edition with 60 public screenings throughout Switzerland in March-April 2020.
- In 2016-17, Philippe directed "Un monde sans travail ?" aka "A Jobless World ?" (75’) for France 5 public television, a film which is dedicated to the announced end of employment in an increasingly automated and precarious society worldwide.
- In 2015, he directed "Stop au djihadisme", a series of short portraits initiated by parents of jihadist children (Cinétévé/Ministry of the Interior).
- In 2014, he ended "L'urgence de ralentir" aka "The Invisible (R)evolutions", a 90-minute documentary produced by Cinétévé and broadcast in 2014 on ARTE TV : "Financial and technological acceleration leads us towards disasters. Globally, some people have decided to resist".
Elected "best film" of the Green Up Film festival in April 2015, awarded at the Festival des Libertés in Brussels: special mention of the Jury in the international competition in October 2014. "L'urgence de ralentir" has been selected for the 5th edition of the Ecofalante Environmental Film Festival (Brazil); selected in competition at the Imagésanté 2016 festival (Belgium); selected in the framework of the documentary program of the COP21 in Paris; selected by the festival Images mouvementées in Paris; selected by Arte in the framework of its documentary festival at the cinema Les 3 Luxembourg in Paris; selected for the Prix Italia in the section "special prizes": prix Milano Expo 2015"; selected for the 8th Échos d'ici, échos d'ailleurs festival at La Bastide-Rouairoux; selected by idÉchange in Montreal (Canada); selected for the 11th Sciences en bobines festival; Awarded at the 4th Auroville International Film Festival (India); selected by the Alliances françaises for a tour of India and Nepal (Sept 2015); selected for the Go! Change festival in Göteborg in May 2015 (Sweden); selected at the EcoBio Meetings in Colmar in May 2015; selected by the French Institutes of Bucharest (Romania) and Budapest (Hungary); Prize-winner at the Terra Festival special mention: Coup de coeur du Jury (Guadeloupe); Elected best film of the Green Up Film festival in April 2015 (Belgium); selected at the 9th Festival du Film engagé in Clermont-Ferrand in April 2015; selected at the 9th Festival Ecologie et mode de vie in Dinan in March 2015; selected at the 13th Rencontres de l'écologie au quotidien in Die in February 2015; selected at the 10th Festival du Film Vert in March 2015 (Suisse Romande); selected at the 32nd FIFE: out of competition category entitled "People Have The Power" in February 2015; selected out of competition at the Pariscience International Scientific Film Festival in October 2014; Awarded at the Festival des Libertés in Brussels: special mention of the Jury in the international competition in October 2014 (Belgium); selected out of competition at the 5th Life Sciences Film Festival in Prague in October 2014 (Rep. Czech Republic); selected as part of the 18th Festival Résistances in Foix in July 2014; selected out of competition at the Figra in March 2014; selected at the 32nd Itinérances film festival in Alès in March 2014, as part of a carte blanche to Piers Faccini.
- In 2012, in "Un monde sans humains ?" aka "A World Beyond Humans ?" (96'), also broadcasted on Arte, he questioned the headlong rush of techno-scientific progress, man-machine fusion and transhumanism (Singularity). This film was selected for FIPA 2013 and won an award at the Calgary International Film Festival 2013 in Canada and a special jury prize at the ImagéSanté festival in Liège in early 2014.
- "Les insurgés de la Terre" aka "EcoWarriors" (57') shot in 2010 was dedicated to these young environmental activists who sometimes push their commitment for our planet to the point of direct action and illegality, and who are now accused of "ecoterrorism" by American and European police forces. This film was aired in 2011 by Arte TV (Théma).
- "Un monde sans fous ?" aka "A World Without Madmen ?" (67') broadcasted on France 5 TV, but also by Médiapart, and Public Sénat, was accompanied by the publication of an eponymous book. In France, madness spills over into the streets and prisons. What place does our society still reserve for madness? This film has since been the subject of more than 400 public screenings and debates in France, Switzerland and Belgium. Rewarded as the "Clé d'or" at the Lorquin Psychological Video Festival 2011.
- "Alerte dans nos assiettes" aka "Alert in our Plates" (97'), broadcasted in January 2009 in Canal Plus' prime time documentary slot, demonstrates, after 18 months of investigation, how the agri-food lobbies are winning the day in the face of public health issues and against the general interest of consumers, threatened more than ever by the epidemics of diabetes mellitus, obesity and other diseases of our industrial junk food, deliberately saturated in salt, sugar and fat.
- "Prison à domicile" aka "Serving Time at Home" (54’) co-produced by Cinétévé and the Forum des images, for a Théma on Arte TV, explored - without comment and with a critical eye - electronic surveillance, an alternative to prison increasingly used in the United States and Europe.
- "Pistés par nos gènes" aka "Tracked Down by our Genes", his second film as author-director, questioned the excesses of genetics now used for social and police control purposes. A survey conducted between France, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- "Not in Our Name !" (57'), a counterpoint to Bush's America and a subjective and uncommented exploration of the American anti-war movement, was produced by Dissidents and Arte for a Théma in 2005. It has won several festival awards. It was Philippe's first personal film on a theme close to his heart: exploring the media off-screen, giving a voice to those who no longer or never had it. Olivier Quemener Prize (Reporter Sans Frontières) at FIGRA 2007. Honourable Mention in the "Out of Competition" section of the political and social documentary at the Banff TV Festival in Canada, June 2007. Finalist for the Albert Londres Prize 2007.
Over the past thirty years, Philippe Borrel has travelled the world many times, always favouring the most human stories, producing reports that have been broadcast in the magazine slots of Arte, Canal Plus, France 3, France 5 and France 2. After graduating from the Centre de Formation des Journalistes in 1990 after Sciences-po Paris, he began his first job as an Image Reporter Journalist, dividing his time between La Marche du Siècle / Théopresse and the CAPA agency until 1997.
As a young reporter, he thus sharpened his gaze, going from American ghettos to the Algerian curfew, from the miserable cities of the universal suburbs to war-ravaged Bosnia. In 1993, he was awarded the Young Reporter's Prize at the International Scoop Festival in Angers for "Les orphelins de Billancourt", a film about the last workers on Ile Seguin, a giant Renault car plant which was closing. Until 2000, he collaborated, in free electron, to Transit, Etat d'urgence, Pièces à preuve, 24 heures, Strip tease, Envoyé spécial, Carnets de route, Le Forum des Européens... He then regularly joins the 2P2L team for C'est ouvert le samedi, Un monde de brutes? on Canal +. There, he then began to invest in a more documentary, subjective and committed approach, with "Premiers secours", a series of five 26-minute episodes about Paris firemen for Arte."