Jérôme Dopffer
Winner of the 1999 Film Producer Grant
AWARD-WINNING PROJECT: Production of Carnages, the first feature-length film directed by Delphine Gleize, which explores the adventures and misadventures of a bull killed in the bullfight ring, whose body parts are subsequently dispersed throughout Europe.
After completing his degree course at FEMIS in the Production section, Jerome Dopffer created Balthazar Productions, and enabled Delphine Gleize to direct her first short film, Sale Battars. After winning 15 awards (including the 2000 César award for the best short film), Delphine Gleize directed two others: Un Château en Espagne, singled out for an award by the 1999 Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes, and Les Méduses.
Meanwhile, Jerome Dopffer continued to work with other directors, including Zoé Galeron and Marc Gibaja, and diversified into documentaries with La Chambre Noire de Khuong Mê by Samuel Aubin, a portrait of a pioneering woman of the Vietnamese cinema. Carnages, a feature-length film by Delphine Gleize, was the culmination of three years’ work. “She had me read the various drafts of the script, which I found to be fabulous, ambitious and original. She is in a category of her own, which I want to support.” The story is simple, but with multiple ramifications: when a bull dies in the late afternoon at the centre of a bullring, not a single part of the animal is wasted. The 575-kg Avispado cannot escape his fate. Later, in Brussels, Paris and Madrid, every character in this story, without knowing it, comes into contact with part of the dead bull’s remains. Unbeknownst to them, the “visitation” of Avispado wreaks havoc on the characters’ everyday lives.
Achievements since winning the Grant
In 2000, Jerome Dopffer produced L’Echappée Belle, directed by Zoé Galeron. In 2002, his project Carnages appeared in cinemas. The film was selected for the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival and was awarded the SACD prize in Avignon, as well as the music grand prize in Aubagne. On 21 March 2007, L’Homme qui Rêvait d’un Enfant, directed by Delphine Gleize and produced by Jerome Dopffer, was released in theatres. On 15 August 2007, Naissance des Pieuvres, the first feature-length film from Céline Sciamma, produced by Jerome Dopffer, is scheduled for theatrical release. This film was presented as an official selection in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
The film was awarded the Prix Louis Delluc for the Best First Film.
