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Laurent Cantet was born in 1961 in the town of [[Melle, Deux-Sèvres]] in western France; his parents were schoolteachers. He went to university in Marseille to study photography, and then entered the [[Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques]] (IDHEC) in Paris where he graduated in 1986 His colleagues at IDHEC included [[Dominik Moll]], [[Gilles Marchand]] and [[Robin Campillo]]. After initially working in television, he became assistant director to [[Marcel Ophuls]] for ''Veillées d'armes'' (1994), a documentary about the siege of Sarajevo. He went on to make some short films, often in collaboration with colleagues from film school. In 1998 Cantet was one of several young directors invited to make films for the European TV company [[Arte]] to mark the forthcoming year 2000, and he completed the mid-length film ''Les Sanguinaires'' (1999), about a group of friends who travel to an uninhabited island to escape the millennial celebrations.<ref>Martin O'Shaughnessy. ''Laurent Cantet''. (Manchester University Press, 2015.) pp. 3-4.</ref><ref name="lacinetek">[https://www.lacinetek.com/fr-en/director-list/laurent-cantet Biography of Laurent Cantet] at ''LaCinetek''. Retrieved 10 May 2021. Archived at [https://web.archive.org/web/20210116075629/https://www.lacinetek.com/fr-en/director-list/laurent-cantet the Wayback Machine].</ref>
His first feature film, with a screenplay written jointly with Gilles Marchand, was ''Ressources humaines'' (''[[Human Resources (film)|Human Resources]]'', 1999) about a management trainee working in his father's factory. This achieved both critical and popular success, and it won two [[26th César Awards|César awards]]. His next film ''L'Emploi du temps'' (''[[Time Out (2001 film)|Time Out]]'', 2001) continued his interest in employment issues, drawing upon a real-life case about a professional man who concealed his redundancy from his family. The screenplay was written jointly with Robin Campillo, who also worked on several of Cantet's later films. Social issues took on a more
political turn and international perspective in ''Vers le sud'' (''[[Heading South]]'', 2005) about sexual tourism in Haiti. In ''Entre les murs'' (''[[The Class (2008 film)|The Class]]'', 2008) Cantet made a film which blended fiction and documentary exploring the daily life of a class of students in a Parisian school. The cast was composed entirely of non-professionals, including the teacher on whose book the film was based. The film won the Palme d'Or at the [[2008 Cannes Film Festival|Cannes film festival]]. Subsequent projects have taken Cantet to Canada for ''[[Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang]]'' (2012) and to Havana for ''Retour à Ithaque'' (''[[Return to Ithaca]]'', 2014), working in English and Spanish respectively. <ref>Martin O'Shaughnessy. ''Laurent Cantet''. (Manchester University Press, 2015.) pp. 5-7.</ref><ref>[http://cinema.encyclopedie.personnalites.bifi.fr/index.php?pk=48856&_ga=2.181513255.1065164341.1612700679-1344600159.1581671816 Laurent Cantet] at Ciné-Ressources. Retrieved 10 May 2021.</ref><ref name="lacinetek" /> In France Cantet has demonstrated a long-standing concern for illegal migrant workers (the ''sans-papiers'') and has supported a collective of French film-makers (the Collectif des cinéastes pour les sans-papiers) who have made a number of short films to bring wider attention to the risks faced by migrant workers. Another aspect of Cantet's interest in social issues is reflected in his preferred method for developing a film, particularly those which feature non-professional actors. He has said that he likes to give a lot of attention and time to the casting, seeking people who will play not themselves but a role similar to their own in real life of which they have a natural understanding (e.g. a factory manager and a trade unionist in ''Ressources humaines'', the pupils in ''Entre les murs''), and then to involve his actors in developing not only their own characters but sometimes the script as well, in a process of workshops and rehearsals.<ref>Martin O'Shaughnessy. ''Laurent Cantet''. (Manchester University Press, 2015.) pp. 7-10.</ref>
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