Isidore Bethel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
France
École Normale Supérieure
SAIC
- filmmaker
- professor
Isidore Bethel | |
|---|---|
| Born | Atlanta, United States |
| Citizenship | United States France |
| Education | Harvard École Normale Supérieure SAIC |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2011–present |
| Works | Acts of Love What We Leave Behind Of Men and War |
| Honors | Filmmaker's 25 New Faces[1] Chéries-Chéris Jury Prize[2] DOC NYC "40 Under 40"[3] Gotham nominee[4] |
Isidore Bethel is a French-American filmmaker who was among Filmmaker's "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in 2020[5] and DOC NYC's "40 Under 40" in 2023.[6] The films he edits, directs, and produces use filmmaking to make sense of overwhelming experiences and tackle recurrent themes of displacement, sexuality, aging, trauma, grief, therapy, and art-making.[7] His first feature film as director, Liam, premiered at the Boston LGBT Film Festival in 2018[8] and received the Jury Prize in the documentary section of the Paris LGBTQ+ Film Festival.[9] His second film, Acts of Love, which French actor Francis Leplay co-directed, premiered at Hot Docs,[10] received the Tacoma Film Festival's Best Feature Award,[11] and appeared on MovieWeb's list of the top LGBTQ+ films of 2021.[12]
Films he has edited have screened at Cannes, SXSW, and the Berlinale,[13] in museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Beirut Art Center, and the Pompidou Center, and on broadcast platforms such as POV,[14] The New York Times' Op-Docs,[15] and Netflix.[16] He has worked in France, Mexico, and the United States with directors such as Dominique Cabrera,[17] Jean-Xavier de Lestrade,[18] Juan Pablo González,[19] Laurent Bécue-Renard,[20] Juan Manuel Sepúlveda,[21] Daniel Hymanson,[22] and Iliana Sosa.[23] He has also collaborated with filmmakers in Lebanon,[24] the United Kingdom,[25] Ethiopia,[26] India,[27] and Turkey.[28] He acts as a producer on many of the films that he edits, which have received support from the Sundance Institute,[29] the Ford Foundation,[30] Field of Vision,[31] the CNC in France,[32] Doc Society[33], Film4[34] and The Whickers in the UK,[35] and Mexico's IMCINE and FONCA funds.[36] Critics have characterized his editing as demonstrative of "admirable restraint,"[37] "tender,"[38] "astute,"[39] "energized yet never rushed,"[40] and "elegant."[41]
He has served on juries for the Paris LGBTQ+ Film Festival,[42] the Chicago International Film Festival,[43] and the National Film Festival for Talented Youth.[44]
A graduate of Harvard University,[45] the École Normale Supérieure, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago,[46] Bethel has received funding from the Institut Français,[47] France's Île-de-France region,[48] the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation,[49] and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation[50] as well as support from Berlinale Talents,[51] the Tribeca Film Institute,[52] the Villa Medici,[53] the Gotham,[54] Film Independent,[55] the Logan Nonfiction Program,[56] and Eurodoc.[57] He has taught at Stone Soup's filmmaking workshop,[58] Sundance's Art of Editing fellowship,[59] Sarah Lawrence College's Paris campus, La Fémis,[60] and Parsons Paris.[61]