Past Resident

Pierre Primetens

Pierre Primetens is an author and documentary filmmaker and has directed such titles as the autobiographical trilogy Un voyage au Portugal (A Trip to Portugal), Des vacances à l’Ile Maurice (A Journey in Mauritus) and Contre toi (Against You) about his estrangement from his mother’s family and their eventual reconciliation.  His latest documentary, La fête des garçons (The Boys Ritual), is about a rite of passage in a remote village of northern Portugal. His movies have been presented in many French and international film festivals and broadcast on European television. He creates radio documentaries, writes television screenplays, serves on several cinema committees and leads screenplay, film study and directing workshops. He is currently writing his first fictional feature film.

“My sense of observation and an almost scientific rigor are essential in carrying out my projects.  I alternate between different working formats: I go to the site where I wish to film and observe the lifestyles of the residents there from an anthropological point of view, complemented by periods of writing where I build a fictional narrative based on what I have observed and the material I’ve collected.”