Michel Hazanavicius

Michel Hazanavicius, born in 1967, is a French film director, screenwriter, editor and producer who gained international recognition for The Artist, a black and white, largely silent film set in Hollywood during the transition from silent film to sound. Released in 2011, The Artist won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Hazanavicius won the Academy Award for Best Director along with the BAFTA Award for Best Director and the Cesar Award for Best Director; he was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Before The Artist he built his reputation in France directing the spy film parodies OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies in 2006 and OSS 117: Lost in Rio in 2009, comedies that established his interest in pastiche of classic film genres.