INUIT LANDS, The Melting Point

Patrick was born in France, in the rugged Mountain region of Les Vosges near Alsace Lorraine, bordering Germany’s Black Forest. He learned his craft at the Louis Lumiere Film School in Paris, and earned degrees in philosophy and journalism at the University of Paris Sorbonne/Vincenne. In addition to his love of nature and related themes, Patrick was greatly influenced by the Cinema Verite style and Gilles Deleuze ‘s philosophy.
In the Western United States. he gained film experience, as a freelance cameraman (16m/m, 35m/m), in 1982 and 1983 filming features such as the dark thriller “the Masseuse” from Masai Films (Marin County), in the streets of San Francisco. In 1984, working with and for the San Francisco Film Company, he scouted for “the Golden Spike” a Sam Peckinpah project. He shot commercials for Grant Production, an advertising company in Sacramento. In Los Angeles, he provided advisory services in Documentary film classes at UCLA in 1988 and worked as an actor, from 1985 to 1991, with minor roles in So I Married an Ax Murderer and The Last of the Mohicans.

In the 90’s in New York, Patrick filmed numerous art videos as well as educational and institutional programs for several video production companies such as Visual Arts Productions International, A.C.T (Art, Cultures & Technologies), Video 35, Maysles Films and Knight Productions in Washington DC. “Souls Grown Deep” shot in Alabama and Georgia about three self -taught black artists was made with Arts, Cultures & Technologies in 1996.

He has performed corporate video assignments with companies including Suez Environment in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan while shooting a series on Water in the Middle East (Lebanon, Jordan and Syria) in 2004, for France 5 and in Turkey in 2003. He has collaborated on multiple cultural preservation projects with UNESCO in Paris and Cairo, with the Schoenberg Institute in New York, and the Smithsonian in Washington DC. While shooting footage for the project “Witness of Existence” in Sarajevo during the brutal winter of 1995/ 1996, he also helped in the humanitarian mission to deliver warm clothes and food to people in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina’s regions most affected by the war.

His work either as a shooter and/or as a director has been featured in a wide array of International documentaries for European television (Arte France, TV 5 France, Studio 21 Sarajevo) and for US broadcasting (PBS, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and HBO).

In the last few years, he has continued to travel extensively in Greenland and South East Asia and most recently in India and Cuba where he has 2 projects currently in development. In his journeys and as a filmmaker, Patrick scouts locations, shoots material, and investigates stories (see films and in production pages for details).

He remains true to his homegrown roots in hand held camera, Cinema Verite style, while experiencing many other styles of cameras and sound. Like Francis F. Coppolla wrote: “There is magic in cinema” and I would add it is a blessing when you can witness it, first hand behind the lens. Only documentaries allow you this direct, close up, and not programmed approach to reality.

He is currently based in New York City and in Princeton, New Jersey.