# Michael Pitiot

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**Michael Pitiot** (born 14 July 1970) is a French [screenwriter](/source/Screenwriter) and [film director](/source/Film_director). He lives and works in [France](/source/France).

## Life and career

Michael Pitiot shot his first reportages in [Zaïre](/source/Zaire) in 1991. He was then recruited as audiovisual attaché at the French embassy in [Vietnam](/source/Vietnam), responsible for cooperation with radio and television in [Ho Chi Minh City](/source/Ho_Chi_Minh_City), a position he occupied from 1993 to 1998.

From 1998 to 2000, he travelled back to France aboard a [Chinese junk](/source/Junk_(ship)) christened *Sao Mai* and specially built for the journey, with Marielle Laheurte and a team of 30 volunteers from widely differing backgrounds (including the former naval lieutenant Pierre Guillaume, also known as *Crabe-Tambour*). He produced a documentary for France2 and wrote two accounts of this expedition.

From 2001 to 2003, alongside senior reporter Arnaud de la Grange, he organised a circumnavigation of Africa with 12 well-known writers including [Erik Orsenna](/source/Erik_Orsenna), [Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio](/source/Jean-Marie_Gustave_Le_Cl%C3%A9zio) and [Jean-Christophe Rufin](/source/Jean-Christophe_Rufin). He also directed a documentary series on this literary and journalistic voyage entitled *Portes d’Afrique*, for [Arte](/source/Arte). In 2003, he filmed a road movie through the former Soviet empire in Super8 with Laurent Lepesant that took him to [Afghanistan](/source/Afghanistan). In 2004 he wrote an account of a voyage to [Bhutan](/source/Bhutan) to discover its temple carpenter-builders with the illustrator Cloé Fontaine, who later became his wife.

Starting in 2006, he wrote a film script with journalist Daniel Duhand on the forgotten history of the «Poilus d’Alaska» (huskies) in 1915. The same year he joined [Tara Expéditions](/source/Tara_expedition) to develop documentaries of its mission. In parallel, in 2009 he published a history of piracy, illustrated by Ségolène Marbach. In 2010, he produced a documentary series in four episodes for France Télévisions on the Tara Oceans mission, co-written with Thierry Ragobert and Frédéric Lossignol and with original music by Gérard Cohen-Tannugi.

Shortly afterwards he met the ecologist and photographer [Yann Arthus Bertrand](/source/Yann_Arthus_Bertrand), with whom he co-produced *[Planet Ocean](/source/Planet_Ocean)*,[1] a feature-length documentary about man and the ocean. This film, produced thanks to the support of the [Omega brand](/source/Omega_SA), won the Best Cinematography Award at the Monterey Blue Festival (California, USA).[2][3] This was the first film produced during a four-year collaboration which also gave birth to three new feature-length documentaries with [Yann Arthus-Bertrand](/source/Yann_Arthus-Bertrand): *Méditerranée*[4] in 2013, which looks at the development of human civilisations in the Mediterranean basin, with the voice of [Gérard Darmon](/source/G%C3%A9rard_Darmon) and [Hiam Abbass](/source/Hiam_Abbass) ; *Algérie*, an emotional journey to the heart of [Algeria](/source/Algeria), narrated by [Jalil Lespert](/source/Jalil_Lespert). The film was aired in [France](/source/France) and [Algeria](/source/Algeria) the same day in July 2015 ; and *TERRA*,[5] the sequel of *[Planet Ocean](/source/Planet_Ocean)*, a film dedicated to the story of mankind and life, narrated by [Vanessa Paradis](/source/Vanessa_Paradis). *Terra* was premiered in December 2015 for the [COP21](/source/COP21) and available worldwide on [Netflix](/source/Netflix) by 2016.

In parallel, Michael Pitiot has devoted his time to writing fictional projects.[6]

## Filmography

- 2001 : L'Odyssée de Sao Mai, 52 minutes, [France 2](/source/France_2)
- 2003 : Durban Zulu, 26 minutes, [Arte](/source/Arte)
- 2004 : Rivages d’Afrique, Côte Est, 52 minutes, Voyage
- 2005 : Rivages d’Afrique, Côte Ouest, 52 minutes, Voyage
- 2006 : Poilus d’Alaska, 90 mn, with Duhand et Jampolsky, [Arte](/source/Arte), [Radio-Canada](/source/Canadian_Broadcasting_Corporation)
- 2008 : Tara, journey to the climate machine, 90mn, Roblin and Ragobert, [Arte](/source/Arte)
- 2009 : Au cœur d’une expédition polaire, 52 minutes, [Planète](/source/Plan%C3%A8te%2B)
- 2010 : The great Bloom, 52 minutes, [France3](/source/France3), [Pathé](/source/Path%C3%A9)
- 2010 : The Sacred Pact, 52 minutes, [France3](/source/France3), [Pathé](/source/Path%C3%A9)
- 2010 : The secret world, 52 minutes, [France3](/source/France3), [Pathé](/source/Path%C3%A9)
- 2011 : A lost Alliance, 52 minutes, [France3](/source/France3), [Pathé](/source/Path%C3%A9)
- 2012 : Tara Ocean, journey to the sources of life, 90 min, [France5](/source/France5)
- 2012 : [Planet Ocean](/source/Planet_Ocean), with [Y. Arthus-Bertrand](/source/Yann_Arthus-Bertrand), 90min, [France2](/source/France2), [Universal Studios](/source/Universal_Pictures)
- 2013 : Mediterranean with [Gérard Darmon](/source/G%C3%A9rard_Darmon), 90 min, [France2](/source/France2), [Universal Studios](/source/Universal_Pictures)
- 2015 : Algeria, with [Y. Arthus-Bertrand](/source/Yann_Arthus-Bertrand), Yazid Tizi, [Jalil Lespert](/source/Jalil_Lespert), 90min, [France2](/source/France2)
- 2015 : [Thalassa](/source/Thalassa_(TV_series)). Le Climat, with Christophe Cousin, 110 min, [France3](/source/France3)
- 2016 : Terra, with [Y. Arthus-Bertrand](/source/Yann_Arthus-Bertrand), [Vanessa Paradis](/source/Vanessa_Paradis), 90 min, [France2](/source/France2), [Netflix](/source/Netflix)
- 2017 : Maroc vu du ciel,[7] 90 minutes, France Télévision, with [Ali Baddou](/source/Ali_Baddou) and [Yann Arthus-Bertrand](/source/Yann_Arthus-Bertrand), France Télévisions
- 2018 : Orient-Express, (script only) by Louis-Pascal Couvelaire, 90 min, [Arte](/source/Arte)
- 2018 : Men from Earth, with [Laurent Stocker](/source/Laurent_Stocker), 100 min, BBC, [France Televisions](/source/France_Televisions)
- 2019 : Egypte vue du ciel, 90 min, with [Pio Marmaï](/source/Pio_Marma%C3%AF) [Yann Arthus-Bertrand](/source/Yann_Arthus-Bertrand), [France Televisions](/source/France_Televisions)
- 2020 : In conversation with [Eileen Gray](/source/Eileen_Gray), 24 min,[8] Bard Graduate Center

## References

1. ["Capturing Planet Ocean : interview on International Traveller"](http://www.internationaltravellermag.com/michael-pitiot-capturing-planet-ocean/)

1. [""Planet Ocean selected as winner of best cinematography at blue ocean film festival""](https://web.archive.org/web/20160227104358/http://davidhannan.com.au/news/latest-news/planet-ocean-selected-as-winner-of-best-cinematography-at-blue-ocean-film-festival.php). Archived from [the original](http://www.davidhannan.com.au/news/latest-news/planet-ocean-selected-as-winner-of-best-cinematography-at-blue-ocean-film-festival.php) on 2016-02-27. Retrieved 2016-03-19.

1. (in French) ["Des documentaires français parmi les plus grosses ventes du monde"](http://lexpansion.lexpress.fr/actualites/1/actualite-economique/des-documentaires-francais-parmi-les-plus-grosses-ventes-du-monde_1554127.html)

1. (in Spanish) ["Mediterranée on Documenta2"](http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/documenta2/2-emite-mediterraneo-nuestro-mar-documental-michael-pitiot-yann-arthus-bertrand/2611678/)

1. (in French) ["Terra on the GoodPlanet Foundation web site"](http://www.goodplanet.org/terra/)

1. ["French documentary-maker Michael Pitiot reveals his five favourite films (Metro 2013)"](http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/26/michael-pitiot-like-slumdog-millionaire-i-think-humankind-can-solve-all-the-tragedies-it-faces-3667180/)

1. [Maroc France TV Pro PR](http://www.francetvpro.fr/france-2/communiques-de-presse/le-maroc-vu-du-ciel-5592594)

1. [Bard Graduate Center Eileen Gray Screening PR](https://www.bgc.bard.edu/events/1133/29-feb-2020-screening-in)

## External links

- [Michael Pitiot](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4618673/) at IMDb
- [Official web site](http://oceans.taraexpeditions.org/?id_page=1) from [Tara Expéditions](/source/Tara_expedition)
- [Planète Océan, official web site](http://ocean.goodplanet.org/#!/le-film/) from the [GoodPlanet Foundation](/source/GoodPlanet_Foundation)
- [The New York Review of Books Sept 2020](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/09/24/eileen-gray-infinite-possibilities/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Michael Pitiot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Pitiot) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Pitiot?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.