Georges Rouquier

French filmmaker whose first full-length film, "Farrebique," won numerous awards. In 1983 he fulfilled a dream when he directed its sequel. That film, "38 Ans Après, was released as "Biquefarre" and received a grand prize at the Venice Festival.

Rouquier’s mother owned a small convenience store in Montpellier and had very little time to spend with her son. His father, the manager of a local dairy, also had little time to devote to his child, and as a result, the youngster spent much of his time daydreaming. Whenever he had enough money, he would go to the movies and immerse himself in the stories he saw. At the onset of the war, his father enlisted, and in February 1915, he was killed at Verdun. His mother was forced to sell her store and take a job as a house cleaner, and Georges was sent to live with his uncle on a farm in Goutrens. His cousins treated him as a brother, and he ended up staying for six months before returning to Montpellier and beginning school. Feeling a need to help his mother, he quit school when he was 14 and got a job as an apprentice at a local print shop. Two years later he moved to Paris and found a job as a typesetter. Still filled with an immense passion for the movies, he read everything he could about film.

Eventually Rouquier decided to make his own film and saved the necessary 2,500 francs. He traveled to the south of France where he shot "Vendanges," 1929, which received good reviews. The onset of the ‘talkies’ temporarily stopped his foray into movie-making, however, due to the added expense. In 1942, he met Etienne Lallier, who agreed to fund the making of "Le Tonnelier," and in 1943, this film was awarded the grand prize at the Congrès du Film Documentaire.

Rouquier decided to pursue movie making fulltime and began working on commission, a plan that resulted in the completion of three short films during 1943.