André Gazut

Born

1938-11-25

Birthplace

Firminy, Loire, France

Biography

André Gazut, born November 25, 1938 in Firminy (Loire) in France, is a French documentary filmmaker. A trainee reporter-photographer at the monthly Réalités in Paris, he saw, in December 1956, in the photo department, about ten photos of torture taken by a colleague returning from Kabylie. This would mark him and his work for the rest of his life. Non-violent and anti-colonialist, he refused to bear arms and was incorporated in 1959 in Pau as a parachutist. Having obtained his parachutist certificate, he was assigned to Toul in the health service. In 1960, he deserted to join the group of refractory fighters against the Algerian war. "Jeune résistance", in Geneva. Sentenced to 3 years in prison, he was amnestied in 1966. He joined Télévision suisse romande in 1961 as a cameraman. He is the cameraman of the documentary "Le Chagrin et la Pitié" by Marcel Ophüls in 1969. Director, in 1974, he portrayed General Jacques de Bollardière, the only senior officer to publicly denounce torture during the Algerian War. De Bollardière, who left the army, became a major figure of non-violence. Director of numerous reports for the Swiss magazine Temps Présent, he traveled to more than 50 countries and covered around fifteen conflicts. In 1996, he directed Les Apprentis Sorciers with Brigitte Rossigneux, on the lie about the impact of French nuclear tests in Algeria in the 1960s. For ARTE in 2002, he shot "Pacification in Algeria", a documentary in two parts -1 The dirty work -2 The politics of lies.