BIOGRAPHY
A privileged witness to a century in constant motion, Raymond Depardon has been active since the early 1960s as a photographer, filmmaker, and co-founder of a press agency. His documentary work—both photographic and cinematic—is vast and boundary-defying, spanning from the Sahara to the great American plains, from bustling cities to the French countryside.
Depardon is also the author of some of the most remarkable documentary films in cinema, offering a uniquely precise radiography and a precious testimony of the contemporary world. Since the 1980s, Raymond Depardon has worked closely with Claudine Nougaret, his partner in life and in work, who has contributed to most of his films as sound engineer and producer.
Discover their journeys on the timeline below.
“When you move from photography to cinema, the trap is making photos—just static shots—and that’s not cinema.
Cinema isn’t just a sequence of photographs, even if it sometimes includes still shots.
It’s movement, it’s a form of writing.”
Raymond Depardon
Born on July 6 in a family of farmers in Villefranche-sur-Saône (Rhône, France). Raymond Depardon grows up on the family farm, Le Garet, near the Saône River.
Moves to Paris and begins working as a freelance photographer for the Dalmas press agency. As a versatile reporter, he covers celebrities, news stories, and earns his first major publication photographing a French mission in the Algerian desert. He begins extensive travel abroad for the agency.
His film Reporters is widely acclaimed and wins the César Award for Best Documentary. His New York Correspondence, published over a month in the daily newspaper Libération, marks his growing independence from traditional photojournalism.
Meets Claudine Nougaret, sound engineer, and co-directs with her the short film Le Petit Navire, filmed in the Malian desert.
Photographs the fall of the Berlin Wall. Films La Captive du Désert, a fiction shot in Chirfa, Niger, where Sandrine Bonnaire portrays Françoise Claustre. The film is selected in the official competition at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.
Délits Flagrants, his first film focusing on judicial institutions, wins the César Award for Best Documentary and the Joris Ivens Prize.
Releases Profils Paysans : L’Approche, the first of a trilogy dedicated to rural life. Films Un Homme sans l’Occident in Chad, adapted from the novel by Diego Brosset. The film is presented at the Venice Film Festival in 2002.
Receives special permission to film hearings at the Paris Criminal Court: 10e Chambre, Instants d’Audiences is screened out of competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
Begins a five-year-long photographic mission across France.
La Vie Moderne, the final film in the Profils Paysans trilogy, is presented in the Un Certain Regard selection at the Cannes Film Festival and receives the Louis-Delluc Prize. Releases La Terre des Paysans, a collection of 40 years of rural photography.
Takes the official portrait of French President François Hollande. Presents the film Journal de France, co-directed with Claudine Nougaret and starring Depardon himself, at the Cannes Film Festival, out of competition.
Releases 12 Jours, a documentary at the crossroads of justice and psychiatry. The film is presented out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Comprehensive retrospective at the Cinemed Festival in Montpellier. Re-release of 20 feature films by spring 2026 in four thematic cycles: “Depardon Citizen”, “Depardon Photographer”, “Depardon Farmer”, and “Depardon & Africa”.
Sound chief operator on Le Rayon vert by Éric Rohmer (Golden Lion at Venice in 1986). Becomes the first female sound engineer in French cinema. First film for which she handles the sound recording alone.
Meets Raymond Depardon and co-directs with him the short film Le Petit Navire in Mali. Directs Paul Lacombe, a 20-minute documentary filmed in Sainte-Eulalie-de-Cernon. Sound chief operator on the film Où que tu sois by Alain Bergala.
Sound chief operator on La Captive du désert, with Sophie Chiabaut as boom operator.
The film Délits flagrants, for which she signed the soundtrack, wins the César for Best Documentary and the Joris-Ivens Prize.
Untangles the legal issues and becomes producer of 1974, une partie de campagne by Raymond Depardon, following Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's campaign. Organizes the first TV and theatrical screening of the film, blocked for 28 years. Produces Un homme sans l'Occident, filmed in Chad in extreme conditions, presented in the official selection of the Venice Festival.
Sound chief operator and producer of Profils paysans: Le Quotidien. To complete the trilogy Profils paysans, becomes distributor and releases the film in France. Presented at the Berlin Festival.
La vie moderne, third part of Profils paysans, which she produced and for which she signed the soundtrack, is presented at the Cannes Film Festival in the official selection Un Certain Regard and wins the Jury's Tribute Prize and the Louis-Delluc Prize for Best French Film 2008.
Co-directs with Raymond Depardon the film Donner la parole, presented as part of the exhibition Terre natale. Ailleurs commence ici at the Fondation Cartier.
Produces the film 8e étage, presented for the thirtieth anniversary of the Fondation Cartier in Paris. Publishes Méditerranée by Raymond Depardon, with texts by Claudine Nougaret, at Editions Xavier Barral. Member of the international jury of the Festival du Réel in Paris. Scouting trip to Chad.
The exhibition Claudine Nougaret: Dégager l’écoute, le son dans le cinéma de Raymond Depardon highlights the donation of their cinematic archives to the BnF. Publication of the book Dégager l’écoute at Editions Points Seuil. Elected to the Board of the Academy of the Césars. Retrospective of the catalog at the Premiers Plans Festival in Angers.
The film Riposte féministe is presented in the official selection of the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Member of the international Ciné Plus Jury at FIPADOC (Biarritz). Directs and produces the film Kamel et Raymond, presented in the exhibition Son oeil dans ma main at IMA Paris.