Pierre Clément

Born

1927-10-03

Died

2007-10-08

Birthplace

La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, France

Biography

Pierre Clément is a French director and cinematographer, born October 3, 1927 in Le Mans and died October 8, 2007 in La Rochelle. After his studies at IDHEC, Pierre Clément went to Tunis in 1957 at the same time as René Vautier to film independent Tunisia. He was integrated into the FLN cinema team and shot “Sakiet Sidi Youcef” in 1958, contributing to the birth of independent Algerian cinema. He was arrested in October of the same year by the French army on the territory of Algeria and narrowly escaped summary execution. His camera and film were seized and will never be returned to him. Sentenced to 10 years in prison for endangering the external security of the State, he was amnestied in October 1962. He then worked in Algeria to participate in the training of filmmakers, then as director of photography for several films by René Vautier . In 2004, he testified with René Vautier, Olga Poliakoff and Yann Le Masson in the documentary "Algérie, d'autres egards", by Raphaël Pillosio, on the conditions of his commitment to the independence of Algeria and on the methods of production and distribution of films made at that time in this country.