Bertrand Mandico

Bertrand Mandico (born 21 March 1971)^[1] is a French film director and screenwriter. His first feature film, The Wild Boys (2017), was named the top film of 2018 by Cahiers du cinéma. He has also written and directed After Blue (2021), and She Is Conann (2023). His films are often interested in the body and gender fluidity and incorporate photos and written elements.^[2][3]

Bertrand Mandico
Mandico at Cannes 2018
Born	(1971-03-21) 21 March 1971 (age 54) Toulouse, France
Occupations	Film director screenwriter
Years active	1997–present

Early life and career

Born in 1971 in Toulouse,^[1][4] Mandico graduated from the film directing program at the Gobelins school in Paris.^[4]

Mandico has directed short films, medium-length films, experimental essays, and feature films.

Mandico has an unusual working method.^[2] He prefers to create the audio for his films in post-production. Actors post-synchronize themselves, and the environmental sounds and music are layered on. However, he always shoots his images on color film, with no post-production images. Background projection and superimposition are done during the shoot.^{[citation needed]}

He created the Incoherence Manifesto in 2012 with Icelandic filmmaker Katrín Ólafsdóttir.^[2] He states that:

To be incoherent means to have faith in cinema, it means to have a romantic approach, unformatted, free, disturbed and dreamlike, cinegenic, an epic narration.

A group of young filmmakers including Yann Gonzalez, Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel have been influenced by the manifesto.^[2]

Mandico has commenced "20+1 Projections", a collaborative project with Romanian-American actress Elina Löwensohn, where they are to make 21 short films in 21 years.^[2] Though each film is meant to be a unique narrative and formal work, they are to revolve around the themes of aging and desire. As of 2018, they have shot 8 films and completed 6 of them.

He was named best director at the Vilnius International Film Festival in 2018 for The Wild Boys.^[5]

In 2021, he wrote and directed After Blue. In 2023, he wrote and directed She Is Conann. In 2024, he wrote and directed Dragon Dilatation.^[6]

His upcoming fifth feature film, Roma elastica, starring Marion Cotillard, begins filming in 2025.^[7]

Filmography

Mandico has directed 40 short films, TV-commercials and musical films.^[8]

Feature films

Mandico's feature films include:^[a]

Year	English title	French title
2017	The Wild Boys	Les Garçons sauvages
2021	After Blue or After Blue (Dirty Paradise)	After Blue (Paradis sale)
2023	She Is Conann	Conann
2024	Dragon Dilatation
TBA	Roma elastica

Short films

Year	English title	French title	Notes
1997	La Chanson du Jardinier Fou	La Chanson du Jardinier Fou
1999	The Blue Cavalier	Le cavalier bleu
2000	Monsieur Flupersu	Monsieur Flupersu
2002	Osmose	Osmose
2002	Chris Dangoisse : De droite	Chris Dangoisse : De droite
2002	Chris Dangoisse : Ils dansent	Chris Dangoisse : Ils dansent
2003	C’était le chien d’Eddy	C’était le chien d’Eddy
2004	All You Have Seen Is True	Tout ce que vous avez vu est vrai
2006	He Says He's Dead	Il dit qu'il est mort...
2007	Mie l’enfant descend du songe	Mie l’enfant descend du songe
2007	Essai 135	Essai 135
2009	His Majesty Little Beard	Sa majesté petite barbe
2010	The Life and Death of Henry Darger	Lif og daudi Henry Darger
2010	Burlesque and Cold	Burlesque et froid
2011	Boro in the Box	Boro in the Box
2012	Living Still Life	La résurrection des natures mortes (Living Still Life)
2013	Féminisme, rafale et politique	Féminisme, rafale et politique
2013	Prehistoric Cabaret	Prehistoric Cabaret
2014	S... Sa... Salam... Salammbô...	S... Sa... Salam... Salammbô...
2014	Memories of a Boobs Flasher	Souvenirs d'un montreur de seins
2015	Our Lady of Hormones	Notre-Dame des Hormones
2015	Any Virgin Left Alive?	Y a-t-il une vierge encore vivante ?
2015	Depressive Cop	Depressive Cop
2017	Odile of the Valley	Odile dans la vallée
2018	L’île aux robes	L’île aux robes
2018	Apocalypse After	Ultra pulpe	Part of Ultra Rêve, a collection of three short films by Mandico, Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel, and Yann Gonzalez.
2018	À rebours	À rebours
2019	Niemand	Niemand
2019	ExtaZus	ExtaZus
2020	The Return of Tragedy	The Return of Tragedy
2021	HUYSwoMANS	HUYSwoMANS
2022	The Last Cartoon	The Last Cartoon	Part of L’émission a déjà commencé.
2022	J’ai tué Kate Bush	J’ai tué Kate Bush	Unused footage from the feature film After Blue.
2023	Rainer, A Vicious Dog in a Skull Valley	Rainer, A Vicious Dog in a Skull Valley	Part of L’émission a déjà commencé.
2023	We Barbarians	Nous les barbares	Part of L’émission a déjà commencé.

Notes

1. By definition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,^[9] and the British Film Institute,^[10] a feature film has a runtime of more than 40 minutes.