Pierre Braunberger | |
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| Occupation(s) | Producer, actor |
Pierre Braunberger (29 July 1905, Paris – 16 November 1990, Aubervilliers) was a French producer, executive producer, and actor.
Born into a family of physicians, Braunberger at the age of seven was already determined not have the same life as his father, and not to take up medicine as a career. He saw a screening ofFantômas at the Gaumont Théâtre, the first cinema to open in Paris, and decided to work in the cinema.
After the First World War, at the age of 15, he produced and directed his first film:Frankfurt in Germany. He left for successive adventures in Berlin, London atBrocklis establishments, where he worked.
In 1923, he left for New York, where he worked for a few weeks atFox Film Corporation, and became a director of production along withFerdinand H. Adam where he also worked on films withFrank Merrill.
In the course of his films in Los Angeles, he came to knowIrving Thalberg who employed him atMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer as one of his assistants. He stayed there for eighteen months, and established contacts with one of the greatest directors of the time.
Wanting to direct and produce in France, he returned to Paris and got to knowJean Renoir, with whom he worked onAvec qui il va tourner,The Whirlpool of Fate,Nana andTire-au-flanc.
In 1929, Braunberger createdProductions Pierre Braunberger andNéofilms for the production of his first French-speaking film (La route est belle by Robert Florey).
In 1930, Braunberger became head of the Pantheon Cinema and continued there for sixty years. He renovated the lobby, created 450 seats, and installedWestern Electric projectors and sound equipment. Although subtitles were yet to be invented, he was the first to show foreign films in their original versions.
One year later, he met withRoger Richebé to produce under the name of Établissements Braunberger-Richebé. A few films were produced, such asle Blanc et le noir byRobert Florey,Isn't Life a Bitch? byJean Renoir, andChocolatière et Fanny byMarc Allégret. In 1933, still only 28, he decided to continue alone, and formedstudios de Billancourt, which becameParis-Studio-Cinéma. During World War two he was not able to produce a film because he wasJewish.[1]
At the end of the Second World War, Braunberger transformed a local Gestapo office into the Cinema Studio "Studio Lhmond", which he used to discover new talents of the "nouvelle vague", includingJean-Pierre Melville,Jean-Luc Godard andAlain Resnais.
In 1966 he was the head of the jury at the16th Berlin International Film Festival.[2]
Braunberger had a close relationship with philosopherGilles Deleuze.
In the late 1970s, Braunberger produced two films for Polish filmmakerWalerian Borowczyk.
Braunberger died in 1990.
