Jean-Michel Arnold

As a young man Jean-Michel Arnold met Henri Langlois, founder of the Cinematheque Francaise, who became his friend and mentor in his life long passion for cinema and culture. He set up the Cinematheque Nationale Algerienne in the 1960s and organized the World Cinema festival during the Panafrican Festival of Culture in Algiers in 1969. In 1974 he returned to France and created a department dedicated to image and science at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche) called CNRS Image/Media which he directed until 2001. With Jean Rouch, he founded the Cinema du Reel, the International Documentary Film Festival, which is now in its 32nd year. He is General Secretary of the Cinematheque Francaise where he been consistently re-elected since 1981, and is vice-President, previously President, of the IFTC (International Council for Film Television and Audiovisual Communication) at UNESCO. He also appears from time to time in movies made by his friends.