Veteran French film director, screenwriter, producer and film critic, Bertrand Tavernier, is a warm and gracious visionary with an encyclopaedic knowledge of American and international cinema. Regardless of the subjects they explore, his films are distinguished for their introspection and humanitarian nature, something that has established him as one of the French cinema's more prolific auteurs. In an industry dominated by cynicism and historical ignorance, Tavernier is a rare figure. Someone genuinely concerned about what is happening to simple working people, deeply hostile to anti-immigrant racism, and determined to help create the artistic and intellectual environment that will produce progressive social change