Patrice Chagnard (France)

At the age of 17, Patrice Chagnard ran the Grenoble Film Club, the biggest club in France in terms of members. He moved to Paris in 1965, where he studied Philosophy at the Sorbonne. He worked as a editor in chief at the magazines Témoignage Chrétien and Télé-Ciné and directed documentaries for TV. In 1969, he became a hippie and travelled the world for three years, getting to know countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistian and India. A defender of Liberation Theology, he became interested in the plights of the farmers in Brazil, Africa and Bangladesh. Since 1977, he’s dedicated himself to directing documentaries, first for TV and then later for cinema, beginning with Le convoi (1995). He was president at Addoc, a group that brings together French documentarists. In 2010 he receives Doc Alliance Award for feature lenght documentary The Arrivals.