Michel Haznavicius (born 29 March 1967) is a French film director, producer and screenwriter best known for his spy movie parodies OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio, both of which star Jean Dujardin. His 2011 film The Artist competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival but lost to The Tree of Life. Dujardin though won the best actor prize at Cannes for his role in The Artist.

Hazanavicius was born in Paris. His family is Jewish, and originally from Lithuania. His grandparents were from both Poland and Lithuania and settled in France in the 1920s. Before directing films, Hazanavicius worked in television, beginning with the Canal+ channel, where he started as a director in 1988. He began directing commercials for companies such as Reebok and Bouygues Telecom, and then, in 1993, he made his first feature-length film, La Classe américaine, for television. The film, co-directed with Dominique Mézerette, consisted entirely of footage taken from various films produced by the Warner Bros. studio, re-edited and dubbed into French. In 1997, Hazanavicius directed his first short film, Echec au capital, and followed it up with his first theatrically released feature, Mes amis, which starred his brother, actor Serge Hazanavicius.

Seven years later, Hazanavicius wrote and directed his second feature, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, a parody of 1960s spy movies and specifically of OSS 117, a popular character created by Jean Bruce in 1949. The $17.5 million film was a modest box office success, with $23 million worldwide receipts. A sequel, OSS 117: Lost in Rio, followed in 2009. Both films were later distributed in the United States by Music Box Films. The Artist, a black and white film without dialogue which takes place in Hollywood on the eve of sound film, screened in competition at the 2011 Cannes International Film Festival. The Artist was later released to universal acclaim. On 24 January 2012 Hazanavicius received nominations for three Oscars: the Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. Hazanavicius said winning an Oscar would be "like dreaming of going to the moon – you don't really believe it could ever happen." Hazanavicius won the Academy Award for Best Director for The Artist, at the 84th Academy Awards. He was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012 along with 175 other individuals.

He contributed a section to the omnibus film The Players (Les Infidèles) starring Jean Dujardin. He then announced that his next feature film would be a remake of the 1948 Fred Zinnemann film The Search. The film stars Berenice Bejo in the Montgomery Clift role as an NGO worker helping a little boy find his family in modern-day Chechnya and was produced by Thomas Langmann. Golden Globe Award actress winner Annette Bening also stars in the film.

Hazanavicius was in a relationship with film director Virginia Lovisone, and they have two daughters together, Simone and Fantine. He is married to Bérénice Bejo, who acted in his films OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, The Artist and The Search. Hazanavicius and Bejo have two children together: Lucien and Gloria.

Michel Hazanavicius, né le 29 mars 1967 à Paris, est un réalisateur, scénariste, producteur, monteur et acteur français.

Il est connu du grand public pour la réalisation de deux parodies de film d'espionnage avec Jean Dujardin: OSS 117: Le Caire, nid d'espions et OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus, puis pour celle du film romantique muet et en noir et blanc The Artist, interprété par Jean Dujardin et Bérénice Bejo. Ce dernier film a remporté plus de cent récompenses en 2012 incluant le British Academy Film Award du meilleur film, du meilleur scénario et de la meilleure réalisation, le César du meilleur film et celui de la meilleure réalisation, les Independent Spirit Awards du meilleur film et de la meilleure réalisation ainsi que les Oscars du meilleur film, de la meilleure réalisation et celui du meilleur acteur pour Jean Dujardin.

Le 24 juillet 2019, il est nommé président du conseil d’administration de la Fémis, l'École nationale supérieure des métiers de l'image et du son. ...

Source: Article "Michel Hazanavicius" de Wikipédia en français, soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Michel Hazanavicius (Paris, 29 de março de 1967) é um cineasta e roteirista francês. Iniciou sua carreira na TV no Canal Plus em 1988, onde dirigiu comerciais. Em 1993 escreve e dirige seu primeiro telefilme, La Classe américaine. Ganha notoriedade com os filmes de espionagem e comédia. Escreveu e dirigiu O Artista de 2011, um filme mudo e em preto e branco, em que participaram sua esposa Bérénice Bejo e Jean Dujardin, com quem havia trabalhado em OSS. Esse filme ganhou o oscar de melhor filme em 2012 e Hazanavicius, com ele, foi premiado com o prêmio de melhor diretor