Jean-Noël Gobron

Jean-Noël Gobron (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃nowel ɡɔˈbʀon]) (born on 19 January 1954) is a film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, cinematographer, editor and photographer. Nationality: Belgian. Religion: Atheist. Spouse: Charmian Dagatan Cabrera (born in the Philippines, on 21 November 1977).

As a director Jean-Noël Gobron is best known for his intimate portraits. Documentaries with an autobiographical approach often about relatives, like the films about his Japanese girlfriend (1983), his father (1987) or about his mother (2008). Although his production process is often irregular and rather marginal, some of his films were selected (and awarded) at international film festivals and broadcasted on television.

Biography

Jean-Noël Gobron was born in Eeklo on 19 January 1954. He was the only sibling of the Belgian poet Marie-Jo Gobron, maiden name Marie-José Coevoet (1916-2008) and the Belgian violinist and painter Roger Gobron (1899-1985). Till 1968 his parents lived with Fabienne Roman (1909-1990), who helped raising the child. In 1962, the four of them moved to Bruges.

Around the age of 13, Gobron made his first experiences with a 8 mm and a Super 8 mm film camera. His mother brought him to film-club screenings, where he discovered his passion for the motion pictures. At the age of 15 he won the second price at an amateur competition for his super 8 mm movie Le Paris de mes 15 ans. Gobron also enjoyed to perform as a DJ for dance and student party's. Bored by the educational system he quitted school to work in a studio of industrial photography. In the evening or on weekend he worked as a projectionist in a movie theater. While discovering the techniques of photography, he started to experiment with a Bolex spring-wound 16 mm film camera. After a year he went back to school to study photography in the Coloma Institute of Mechelen were the French teacher made him discover Jacques Tati's Trafic. Simultaneously he followed evening lessons at the Brussel's Sint Lukas school for fine arts. Encouraged by the student protest movements against the Belgian politician Paul Vanden Boeynants he created a student council at his school. In May 1973 he created the Filmclub Zoom '74, where he screened independent and experimental films, which he fetched sometimes abroad (a bit later there were also a few screenings at the Academy of Ghent and finally Gobron settled the film-club in Bruges till 1981). During a summer workshop on filmmaking, the 19 year old Gobron encounters filmmakers like Mark Ghens, Guido Henderickx, Guy Lee Thys and Robbe De Hert. At the workshop he also discovers François Truffaut's La Nuit Américaine which tickled even more his interest in the process of filmmaking. In September 1973 he moved to Ghent, where he studied fine arts for a year.

In the summer of 1974 Gobron moved to Brussels where he attended the Ritcs film school. He became a fervent visitor of the screenings organized at the Brussel's Filmmuseum where he discovered films, like Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera, the documentary cinema and the French New Wave. The same year he worked as a cameraman on a science-fiction film of Mark Ghens. With the unused footage of the film and some personal footage he edited Screentest for Eurydice which was selected at the Experimental Film Festival of Knokke in 1974-75. In 1976 he quitted school and started to work on several films as a technician (in various functions). In 1977 he bought a professional 16 mm Aaton camera. Refusing to be enrolled for his military service, he accomplished a two year civil service at the Flemish university of Brussels. There he organised a workshop for filmmaking, made videos for the university and founded film-club for the students.

In 1983, during a three months trip to Tokyo, he directed his first feature film Satori Stress. The film which was selected at the Brussels International Film Festival in 1984 drawed the attention on Gobron as a director. A year later he founded the production house Alcyon Film. In 1986 he directed a feature entitled A chacun son cinéma, a documentary about actors and acting. In 1987 Portrait de mon père aquarelliste was released, a documentary about the work of his father's works as a painter. At the same time he continued working as a cameraman, was an active member of several Belgian professional film associations and resumed lessons in filmmaking at the film school of Sint-Lukas Brussels (from which he graduated as a director in 1990). Starting 1992 he lectured at the film academy of Ghent and later at the Narafi film institute of Brussels. In 2009 his feature Portrait de ma mère aquarelliste, a documentary about his mother's work as a poet, was released.

Filmography

As a director

2008: Portrait de ma mère poète - documentary - 60 min.
2003: 2002 a street odyssey - documentary - 46 min.
2002: 2001 a street odyssey - documentary - 15 min.
1990: Dérision douce - musical clip - 7 Min.
1990: Eenheid, Vrede, Ontwikkeling - documentary - 12 min.
1989: Ce besoin de magie - documentary - 26 min.
1988: Orwold - fiction - 8 min. 30
1987: Portrait de mon père aquarelliste - documentary - 36 min.
1986: A chacun son cinéma - documentary - 95 min.
1983: Satori Stress - fictional documentary - 75 min.
1974: Screentest for Eurydice - experimental film - 11 min.
As a producer

2002: Bites And Pieces, documentary - 25 min. - directed by: Nilufar Ashtari (Belgium)
2002: Creation, found footage - 16 min. - directed by: Nilufar Ashtari (Belgium)
1992: Vol-Au-Vent, fiction - 9 min. - directed by: Rudolf Mestdagh (Belgium)
1999: Le Journal De Joseph, fictional documentary - 57 min. - directed by: Gérard Courant (France)
As a director of photography

1997: Bruit d'amour et de guerre, fiction - 45 min. - directed by Marcel Hanoun (France).
1986: Architectures sans architectes, documentary serial 10 x 13 min. - directed by Pierre Van Thienen (Belgium).
1984: La perte d'équilibre, fiction - 26 min. - directed by Enrique Pierini (Argentina).
1980: Futur antérieur, fiction - 15 Min. Directed by Marcel Hanoun (France).
1979: As if it were yesterday - documentary - 85 min. - directed by Myriam Abramowicz (USA) & Esther Hoffenberg (France).
1978: Magnum Begynasium Bruxellense, documentary - 145 min. - directed by Boris Lehman (Belgium).
1974: The Girl Beyond The Gates Of Time, science-fiction - 25 min. - directed by Mark Ghens (Belgium).

Bibliography

Nilufar Ashtari, Anne-Michèle Hamesse, Jan Florizoone, Daniel Karlin Monograph/Catalogue Roger Gobron., Alcyon Film, Brussels, 1999. English, French & Dutch (p. 9, 10, 11, 13, 72, 124, 126, 127 & 199).
Jacqueline Aubenas Dic Doc, Le Dictionnaire du Documentaire., CGRI/Service de l'Audiovisuel de la Communauté française de Belgique, Brussels, 1999. French (p. 216, 217 & 218).
Jacqueline Aubenas, Luc Joris, Serge Meurant, René Michelems, Marianne Thys Belgian Cinema, Le Cinéma belge, Belgische Film., Ludion/Royal Film Archive, 1999, Brussels/Ghent/Amsterdam. English, French & Dutch (p. 599, 606, 635, 643, 676, 703 & 730).
Faïza Boumedian Voix off et réalité vrai'', Faïza Boumedian, 1998, Brussels. French (p. 51-61).
Jean-Noël GobronElementaire Filmtheorie'', Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1980, Brussels. Dutch.
Jean-Noël Gobron, Jean-Michel Vlaeminckx A chacun son cinéma., Cent cinéastes belges écrivent pour un centenaire, Editions Luc Pire/Cinergie, 1995, Brussels. French (p. 4, 87, 88 & 89).

External Links

Jean-Noël Gobron at Alcyon Film
Jean-Noël Gobron at Cinergie (French)
Jean-Noël Gobron at Cinefiches (French)

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