François Ozon was born in 1967 in Paris. He graduated in cinema, then attended the prestigious school FEMIS. Many of his films were selected by short film festivals worldwide. In 1996 he was awarded the "Léopard de Demain" for A Summer Dress at the Locarno Film Festival. In 1998 he premiered his first full-length feature, Sitcom, in Critics Week at Cannes, and that summer his hour-long feature Sea the Sea was released to critical acclaim in the USA. In 1999 he premiered Criminal Lovers at the Venice Film Festival and just six months later premiered Water Drops on Burning Rocks at Berlin, where it won the Teddy Bear for Best Gay Feature Film.

A rare combination of humor, sensitivity and psychological insight has gained Ozon and his films international recognition. Ozon is one of France's most daring and inventive new director, exploring subjects like incest, murder, sexuality, suicide, sadomasochism and voyeurism. According to critic Claire Vassé, François Ozon is "inspired by a high and demanding idea of films. He is distinguished above all by his predilection for portrayals of transgression and sexuality that lead the viewer into shadowy zones he would never have thought to visit.

Ozon is currently working on his fourth feature film, Sous le sable, starring Charlotte Rampling and Bruno Kremer. 

Credit: frenchculture.org