Thierry Frémaux

Born in Tullins-Fures in Isère, Thierry Frémaux grew up in the Lyon suburbs, in the ZUP des Minguettes in Vénissieux. A film buff from an early age, he became a film columnist for Radio Canut, the free radio association he co-founded, while studying history at Lyon 2 University. In 1984, he wrote a master's thesis on the early days of Positif, founded in Lyon by Bernard Chardère in 1952. Chardère became the first director of the Institut Lumière in 1982.

After completing his DEA, Thierry Frémaux worked on a social history of cinema for a thesis that his commitment to the Institut Lumière prevented him from completing. A volunteer since its creation in 1982, he became an employee at the suggestion of Bernard Chardère in 1990. In 1995, he was appointed artistic director alongside chairman Bertrand Tavernier, with whom he organised the centenary of the Cinématographe Lumière and laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the Hangar du Premier-Film.

Just after declining the directorship of the Cinémathèque française in 2000, he was promoted to Artistic Delegate of the Cannes Festival in 2001. In 2007, he was appointed General Delegate of the event by his predecessor, Gilles Jacob, who had become President, without abandoning his activities in Lyon.

In Lyon in 1990, Thierry Frémaux introduced filmmakers from all over the world to the Institut Lumière and the Rue du Premier-Film. In 1992, with Bertrand Tavernier, Thierry Frémaux created a collection of cinema books for Actes Sud. In 2009, with the teams at the Institut, he launched and organised the Lumière festival, which has just celebrated its 15th anniversary. He also devised the Prix Lumière, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of cinema, which each year rewards a film director for his or her body of work. The first winner was Clint Eastwood, and the most recent was Isabelle Huppert.

In 2017, he directed the film Lumière! L'aventure commence (The Adventure Begins), which for the first time presents 108 Lumière views in a restored version, with speed and frame respected. The film has been a big hit in French and international cinemas, with strong international sales. Thierry Frémaux is also the author of several books, including Sélection officielle (2017, Grasset), a diary of one year's Cannes selection, Judoka (2021, Stock) and Si nous avions su que nous l'aimions tant, nous l'aurions aimé davantage (2022, Grasset), a tribute to Bertrand Tavernier.

His new book, Rue du Premier-Film, has just been published by Stock in the ‘Ma Nuit au musée’ collection. Along with the renovation of the Musée Lumière on rue du Premier-Film, it marks the first stage in the celebrations marking 130 years since the birth of the cinematograph, of which Lumière, l'aventure continue is one of the events.