Sciamma was born on 12 November 1978[2] and raised inCergy-Pontoise, a suburb of Paris.[3] Her father, Dominique Sciamma, a former AI researcher and IT professional, now a figure of design education, and her brother, Laurent Sciamma, is a stand-up performer and graphic designer.[4]
Before attendingLa Fémis, the French film school where she studied from 2001 to 2005, Sciamma earned her master's degree in French literature atParis Nanterre University.[5][6] As a child, she was an avid reader, and she became interested in film as a teenager.[5] Sciamma cites her grandmother as inspiring her love of film, saying that she had a great interest in old Hollywood movies. Sciamma also attended Utopia, an art house cinema theater in Cergy, three times a week as a teenager.[7] She wrote her first original script forWater Lilies as part of her final evaluation at La Fémis. Sciamma has said that she never planned on directing, and thought only about screenwriting or working as a critic.[7]Xavier Beauvois, who was chairman of the evaluation panel, and could be considered her mentor, persuaded her to make the film.[8] A year after finishing school, she began shooting the film in her hometown.[9]
Sciamma started her career writing the short filmsLes Premières Communions (2004) andCache ta joie (2006). Her feature film debut,Water Lilies, was released in 2007. The French title,Naissance des pieuvres, means "Birth of the Octopuses", but was altered for international release.[10] The film's script was Sciamma's senior project at La Fémis, although when she wrote it, Sciamma did not intend to direct it.[11] The film, shot inCergy, explores the world ofsynchronized swimming. Based on Sciamma's own encounter with the sport, the protagonist explores her burgeoning sexuality and attraction to the team's captain.[12]Water Lilies was selected for screening in the sectionUn certain regard at the2007 Cannes Film Festival. It won the Louis Delluc award for a first film.[11] The film secured three nominations for the 2008César Awards; Sciamma was nominated for theCésar Award for Best Debut, and actressesAdèle Haenel andLouise Blachère were both nominated for theCésar Award for Most Promising Actress.[13]
Sciamma directed her first short film,Pauline, in 2009 as part of a government anti-homophobia campaign called ‘Five films against homophobia’.[8]
Her 2011 filmTomboy was written and shot in months.[14] Sciamma wrote the script in three weeks, completed casting in three weeks, and shot the film in 20 days.[9] It premiered at the61st Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section of the festival, and won the Teddy award for films with queer topics.[11] The film was shown in French schools as part of an educational program.[9] Sciamma worked on TV seriesLes Revenants (2012) for a year and a half. She has said in interviews that she wants to direct serial television series.[11]
Her 2014 filmGirlhood was selected to be screened as part of theDirectors' Fortnight section of the2014 Cannes Film Festival.[15] It also played at the2014 Toronto International Film Festival and the2015 Sundance Film Festival. In interviews, Sciamma said thatGirlhood would be her lastcoming-of-age film and that she considered it,Water Lilies, andTomboy a trilogy.[16] The film, a coming-of-age film about a young woman who leaves school and joins a gang, received criticism for centering Black experiences and featuring a mostly Black cast but being directed and made by a mostly white crew.[11]
Since 2015 Sciamma has served as co-president of the SRF (Society of Film Directors).[17] In between directing her own films, she continues to work as a screenwriter for other directors. She was sought after byAndré Téchiné, whose work Sciamma admired as a youth, to co-write the screenplay for his 2016 filmBeing 17.[18] She also adapted the novelMa Vie de Courgette (My Life as a Courgette) into a screenplay for a stop-motion animated film.[11]
Sciamma's fourth feature film,Portrait of a Lady on Fire, began shooting in 2018.[20] It premiered in Competition at the2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it won theQueer Palm andBest Screenplay.[21][22] David Sims ofThe Atlantic wrote, "It's a film about the deeply personal process of creativity—the pain and joy of making one's emotions and memories into a work of art. The film is a grand leap forward for Sciamma, already one of France's most exciting emerging directors. For me, it is the most enthralling cinema experience of the year."[23]
Sciamma frequently collaborates withPara One, who has scored all her films and directed some of her scripts.[citation needed] She frequently collaborates with cinematographerCrystel Fournier, who worked on Sciamma'sGirlhood trilogy, among others.[27]
She is noted for casting non-professional actors in her films, and also frequently castAdèle Haenel, who appeared inWater Lilies,Pauline, andPortrait of a Lady on Fire.
Sciamma has said that fashion and style form an important part of characterisation, which is why, though uncredited, she is often the costume designer for her films.[28]
Sciamma has citedDavid Lynch as a strong influence, along with seeingVirginia Woolf as "the greatest novelist" andChantal Akerman as "one of the most important filmmakers".[29]
Sciamma has spoken about the metaphorical purpose of using synchronized swimming inWater Lilies, which she said "reveals a lot about the job of being a girl," due to the tension between athleticism and feminine aesthetics.[12]
A common theme in Sciamma's films is the fluidity of gender and sexual identity among girls and women.[30] Her films look at lesbianism and queerness, and how this is represented on screen. She focuses on the idea of the body, and how touch is related to it within cinema.[31] Sciamma’s notable in her thematic elements for female gaze, and many scholars have cited her as a pioneer for creating a new way of seeing women in media.[32] She also likes to conceptualise the idea of ‘looking’, usingRussian nesting dolls as a metaphor of "looking within looking".[7]
Sciamma also regularly examines themes of family including broken families, bereavement, and adoption. By focusing on coming-of-age narratives, she examines autonomy of children and teenagers, especially in terms of gender and sexuality. Her films often capture children without their parents, and documents their metamorphosis and imagination onscreen. She is interested in their subjugation and autonomy.[11]
Sciamma does not believe in the idea of amuse for her pieces, and despite her personal relationship with Haenel, says that the relationships on screen are of collaboration and subversion, not fascination.[7]
Sciamma focuses on identity and representation in film, such as black identity inGirlhood and motherhood identity inPetite Maman.[33][34]
Sciamma is a feminist.[35] She was a founding member of the French branch of the50/50 by 2020 movement, a group of French film industry professionals advocating for gender parity in film by the year 2020.[36][37]
She has contributed heavily to discourse with cinema on thefemale gaze.[32] Sciamma uses her platform to speak about the restrictions of themale gaze and present movies that elevate the female gaze.[38] She sees her work, particularlyPortrait of a Lady on Fire, as a manifesto of the female gaze. Sciamma said in an interview: "That's why the male gaze is obsessed with representing lesbians, for instance. It's a way to control it. Our stories are powerful because they are dangerous. We are dangerous. So it's a very good strategy to despise us—to undermine us—because it's giving us less leverage for a very powerful political dynamic".[39]
Sciamma has said that "cinema is always political" and that creating films by women and about women is a political act.[40] In 2018, she co-organised and participated in the women's protest against inequality at the2018 Cannes Film Festival alongside many notable women in film, includingAgnès Varda,Ava DuVernay,Cate Blanchett, andLéa Seydoux.[41] This protest campaigned for gender equality in the film industry.[11]
At the premiere ofPortrait of a Lady on Fire at the2019 Cannes Film Festival, Sciamma and Haenel wore 50/50 pins in support of the movement.[42]
In 2020 Sciamma and thePortrait of a Lady on Fire team joined Haenel in walking out of the45th César Awards afterRoman Polanski won the award for Best Director.[43] In 1977, Polanski wasarrested and charged with six offences against a 13-year-old girl. Haenel had previously spoken out about experiencing sexual harassment by director Christopher Ruggia.[11] Sciamma said in an interview about the walkout, "There was no plan. It's all about the moment, a matter of seconds. It's about moving your legs, as simple as that. And that's hard. It's hard to stand up, hard to move your legs. I understand why people don't. But sometimes you have to."[7]
Sciamma is alesbian.[44] In 2014,Adèle Haenel publicly acknowledged that she was in a relationship with Sciamma in her acceptance speech for herCésar Award.[45] The two met on the set ofWater Lilies and started dating sometime after. Sciamma was 28 years old and Haenel was only 17 when they first met.[46] The couple parted ways, amicably, sometime before the filming ofPortrait of a Lady on Fire, which also starred Haenel.[47]
Belot, Sophie. “Céline Sciamma's La Naissance des pieuvres (2007): Seduction and be-coming”. Studies in French Cinema, 2012, 12:2, 169-184,doi:10.1386/sfc.12.2.169_1
Bulloch, Ellie. Subverting the ‘Male Gaze’: How Is a ‘Female Gaze’ Evident in the Works of Sophie Calle and Céline Sciamma? Dissertation, Professor Paul Hegarty, 2021. https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/clas/documents/final-year-prizes/2021/ellie-bulloch-dissertation.pdf.
