Pauline de Grunne

DIRECTOR, “Robert Wilson In Situ”

After completing a master’s degree at Paris 7 University and film production training at the CEFPF, Pauline de Grunne left for Brussels were she attended courses at the INSAS (Institute for Arts and Technique of Audio Visual). She then received a DEA in film economy at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Pauline de Grunne Cohen - Director

Pauline de Grunne Director

With respect to theater, she is a student of the National School of Chaillot under the direction of Antoine Vitez, Stuart Seide and Andre Bayen.

From 1989 to 1999, she worked as first assistant director on a great number of documentaries, feature films and television programs. She directed a few documentaries and short features and appeared as the Female Banker in the film A Decouvert of Laurent Jaoui.

Her documentary debut Ils received la Bande a Lumiere, Canal+’s prize for Best Documentary Screenplay and an award from the Ministry of Feminine Condition at the Festival of Clermont- Ferrand. The documentary is distributed via Canal + and la Sept/Arte and screened in international festivals (Festival du Reel, Sao Paulo, Annonay, Creteil, Brussels, Namur).

Prague or the Return of the Salamanders was shown in multiple episodes on the French channel Five in a program hosted by Patrick de Carolis. A longer version was shown on the RTBF channel. The Innocents is a short feature selected for the Festival of Clermont Ferrand, Berlin, Rome, San Sebastian, Dublin. It tells the story of a child rejected by his group of friends who accepts to pay the asking price for his reintegration. He’ll eventually understand, although too late, the consequences of his decision (26 min – 35 mm). This film is shown on Canal +.

In 1999 she moved to New York and dedicated herself to writing. She wrote several biographical screenplays. Christine Spengler, War or Dream: the story of an ambiguous relationship between a war reporter and death, and its translation into an artwork. East Ephemera: the tragic/comedy of contemporary art insurgents living in Ex-Czechoslovakia during the harsh years of communism. Mr. Lefebure: a short film about a man whose drawings of the unfortunate become reality. A Thousand Hills: a screenplay for a full length feature which recounts the adventures of a Rwandan child and his two French and American new companions struggling to survive in Rwanda during the genocide. At its heart, a road movie in which the courage and the determination of one child are the only guarantees of humanity…

In 2006, she established Watermill Productions, LLC, an independent company, dedicated to the production and the direction of the documentary Robert Wilson In Situ. This full-length documentary tells the incredible adventure of the Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds to the Watermill Center, Bob Wilson’s American dream….