After studying Engineering at the ENSTA (Institut Polytechnique) in Paris, then Philosophy at the Sorbonne Paris IV, Pierre Bessette, born in 1976, is currently an associate professor of Philosophy at the French high school of Antananarivo, Madagascar.
At the same time, he has been pursuing a career as a director for several years.
Passionate about theater, in 2008 he created a play entitled C’est de l’eau (This is water), performed at the Etoile du Nord theater in Paris, in June 2009, as part of an end-of-studies project at the Atelier Théâtral de Création (now École Auvray Nauroy). Adapting this performance for the screen with the filmmaker Jean Seban, he developed a taste for directing, and in the same year signed his first short film Narcisse with the dancer Dereck Cayla.
In 2014 he moved to Chile working as a teacher-trainer of Philosophy at the French high school Saint Exupéry in Santiago. During this five-year stay in Latin America, he produced two films. The first, Chanson à Part (Song Apart, 2017) is a multiple award-winning filmed poem confronting the most intimate breaking of the soul and the vast desertic spaces of Atacama.
Mermaids –presented to the selection jury for this festival– tells the story of two bodies seeking breath in a melting world. On a trip to the Chilean Patagonia, two friends, dancers, head into the wide-open natural spaces, diving deep into the self. During this voyage a Selknam voice is heard, revived from time immemorial, leading to a choreographic flight, an initiatory journey, a metamorphosis.
As a philosophy teacher, Pierre Bessette trusts the logos and the concept, however his filmography is sensitive and poetic, and «produces more clarity than comprehension» according to his own words.
Filmography
2017: Director of a short film Chanson à Part, Song Sotto Voce, Best experimental film / Lisbon International Film Festival. Audience Award / Parangon Film Festival – Winner / AAB Film Festival Fresh Stream Experimental Film / Best Experimental Film. Latin American Days / Best Experimental Film. More than 30 selections into international festivals.
2016: co-writer of the documentary of Nicolas Contant Nous, les intranquilles, a collective experience of cinema, at the Centre Artaud. SANOSI Production. Premiere 2 mai 2018.
2012: Director of the short film Narcisse, from Cantate du Narcisse de Paul Valéry. Awarded at Five Continents International Film Festival. Selected at International Festival of Independent Films, Anonimul (Bucarest).