Philippe Kastelnik

Known for

Directing

Birthplace

France

After studying film and theater, Philippe Kastelnik began making films without funding. A self-taught filmmaker, he worked as a screenwriter, assistant director, and production manager. He participated in various projects as a musician, composer, actor, and writer. For 25 years, he has written and directed feature films with very limited resources. This allows him to develop projects with a handcrafted approach that fosters freedom in narrative and aesthetic expression. He varies formats and moves from one genre to another. Following a two-year backpacking trip through Eastern Europe and Asia, he returned with two documentary films, one on Indian music and the other, a travelogue in Albania. After a trip to Cambodia, he wrote an animated short film related to the tragic history of the country, La Mangue, developed with Vertical Productions. He wrote a radio drama for France Culture, Le dernier rire de Lovely Boobs, loosely based on the life of Lolo Ferrari. His latest independent project is a feature film: Between Two Rounds, a political musical comedy about the loss of ideals. Shot in Bordeaux, the film is being screened through an alternative network. In 2019, he directed Far From Al Andalus, a musical tale about the quest for the absolute, with Chacapa Films, the support of the CNC (National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image), and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. In parallel, he leads media literacy workshops, is training in screenwriting and television series writing, is pursuing theoretical research in narratology and the economics of screenwriting, participates in writing groups, and is involved in the activities of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Association of Writers and Directors (NAAIS).