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Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire

Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire

Directing

Biography

Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire (born 31 December 1968) is a French filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. He is best known as the director of films Johnny Mad Dog, A Prayer Before Dawn and Asphalt City. Sauvaire was born on 31 December 1968 in Paris, France. He currently lives in New York City. In 1991, Sauvaire started his film career as a first assistant director of the film Les Nuits Fauves by Cyril Collard. Then he joined the crew for the films Les Demons de Jesus and Les Grandes Bouches, directed by Bernie Bonvoisin; I Stand Alone directed by Gaspar Noé; Sous Les Pieds Des Femmes, directed by Rachida Krim; Hors Jeu, directed by Karim Dridi; Louise (Take 2), directed by Siegfried; and Love Me, directed by Laetitia Masson. He continued to work as an assistant director until 2000. At the end of 2000, he directed his three short films, La Mule (co-directed with Rossy De Palma), A Dios, and Matalo. In all three, he used the theme of violence among adolescents. In 2008, he made the film Johnny Mad Dog, co-produced with Mathieu Kassovitz. The film was later presented in the Official Selection, 'Un Certain Regard' section at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the Prix de l'Espoir. The film was an adaptation of the novel Johnny Chien Méchant by Congolese writer Emmanuel Dongala. It tells the story of a group of child soldiers fighting for the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebels in 2003, during the latter part of the Second Liberian Civil War. After the success of the film, Sauvaire directed the telefilm Punk in 2012, which was co-produced by Arte, with Paul Bartel and Béatrice Dalle. In 2017, he made the film A Prayer Before Dawn, which was adapted from the story of Billy Moore. The film received an official selection at the 70th Cannes Film Festival in 2017. In 2023, Sauvaire directed Black Flies, an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Shannon Burke, with Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan. The film was selected in competition at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in 2023. Source: Article "Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Known For

Bizarre
5.3

Maurice, a reticent young homeless man, somehow manages to get by in Brooklyn; he spends his nights in parked cars until he finds himself at Bizarre, an underground club renowned for its burlesque shows. Maurice is fascinated by the club’s playful revues celebrating self-determined sexuality and creative otherness, and the two female club owners both adore him. He soon becomes a part of their self-selected family, and begins to bond with introverted Luka. But Maurice turns his back on Luka’s growing affection. Running away from his true emotions he drifts aimlessly through the city. He tries to find his feet at a boxing club, where he meets Charlie. Unable to withstand the pressure of his repressed feelings, Maurice unleashes a mounting foment of emotions, pervaded by tenderness and menace.

Bizarre

2015Movie
Louise (Take 2)
6.1

The central role of Louise is portrayed by Elodie Bouchez, who won a 1998 Cannes "Best Actress" award for The Dreamlife of Angels. When Louise has an encounter with homeless Remi (Roschdy Zem), they have a magnetic attraction, but she is already attached to illiterate shoplifter and pickpocket punk Yaya (Gerald Thomassin). Although allied with Yaya in petty crimes, Louise lives with her widowed father (Lou Castel), a devoted writer of fiction. After a Metro bum (Bruce Myers) tells her of his desire to see his young son, she plucks the kid, Gaby (Antoine de Merle), right out of school, making him the newest rookie recruited into their subway gang. Shoplifting in a department store, the young toughs escape the store's security guards by hiding in the ballet rehearsal rooms of the nearby opera. But does Louise really belong with the subway toughs, or is she just pretending? When she's arrested, Louise is forced to reexamine her lifestyle.

Louise (Take 2)

1999Movie