Manuel Sanchez

Manuel Sanchez was born in Garchizy, France. He studied literature and psychology at the University of Clermont-Ferrand where he discovered auteur cinema thanks to the Ciné-Club Universitaire in the Faculty of Letters which introduced him to the films of Glauber Rocha, Bernardo Bertolucci and Luigi Comencini, Wim Wenders, Fassbinder, and others. After leaving university he spent a year and a half in Latin America living in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia. Upon returning to France he studied cinema at the Free Conservatory of French Cinema in Paris, and law at the Faculty of Law and Politics at the University of Reims. In 1985 he worked on "The Marriage of the Century," a feature film by Philippe Galland starring Anémone and Thierry Lhermitte. The same year he also worked on "Le Déclic," directed by Jean-Louis Richard and Steve Barnett, written by Milo Manara and Adam Moos, starring Florence Guérin, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, and Bernie Kuby at the studios of Boulogne-Billancourt with Martine Barraqué, an editor and actress known for "The Last Metro"(1980, "The Green Room"(1978) and "Confidentially Yours"(1983). In 1987 Manuel Sanchez was assistant to Jean-Charles Tacchella for the production of "Traveling-Avant" starring Thierry Frémont, Ann-Gisel Glass and Simon de La Brosse. During the filming he became friends with Simon de La Brosse whom he cast as Tonio in his 1991 feature film "Les Arcandiers." During his work with Martine Barraqué Manuel met editor Hélène Viard who became the producer of Manuel's two short films: "Les Arcandiers" (1987) and "Grain de Ciel" (1988). "Les Arcandiers" was awarded a Special Jury Award and Special Mention of the Jury at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 1987. It was also nominated at 1987 César Awards for Best Short Film. In 1991 his feature film, "Les Arcandiers," starring Simon de La Brosse, Dominique Pinon, Charles Schneider and Géraldine Pailhas received positive critical attention, but was not given wide distribution. In 2017 he released the feature film, "La dorMeuse Duval," based on the award-winning "Les Bottes Rouges" ("The Red Boots") by Franz Bertelt. Starring Dominique Pinon, Delphine Depardieu, Marina Tome and Pascal Turmo the film had a premier in France and has since been distributed worldwide via Vimeo and Amazon Prime. Manuel Sanchez is described as "the putative successor of Eric Rochant ("A World Without Mercy") and Christian Vincent ("The Discrete") in the stable of producer-discoverer Alain Rocca." He heads the European Cooperative Quizas Productions in Vouziers, France where he has lived since 1992 with his wife, co-writer and director Muriel Harrar-Sanchez.