Born in Bailleul in 1958, Bruno Dumont studied philosophy and taught it before turning to film. His early films are bleak, social-realist and use amateur actors, with extreme violence and explicit sexuality; The Life of Jesus (1997) won a special mention for the Caméra d'Or, and Humanité (1999) and Flandres (2006) each won the Cannes Grand Prix. From the mid-2010s he moved to absurdist comedy, with P'tit Quinquin (2014), Slack Bay (2016), Jeannette (2017) and The Empire (2024), a parody of Star Wars that won a Silver Bear Jury Prize at Berlin.
Filmography
- The Life of Jesus (1997)
- Humanité (1999)
- Flandres (2006)
- Hadewijch (2009)
- P'tit Quinquin (2014)
- Slack Bay (2016)
- France (2021)
- The Empire (2024)