Siné Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Siné
Acting
Biography
Maurice Sinet, known as Siné, is one of the leading figures of French satirical cartooning, renowned for his dark humor, fierce anticlericalism, and radical political commitments. His life was inextricably linked to a passion for drawing, jazz, and anti-colonial activism. Maurice Albert Sinet was born in Paris, in a working-class neighborhood in the east of the city, at the end of 1928, into a modest family. His father was an artistic blacksmith and his mother a grocer. He grew up between Belleville, Ménilmontant, Barbès, and Pigalle, which instilled in him from a very young age a critical perspective on social inequality. At fourteen, he entered the École Estienne, studying drawing and model making while earning a living at night as a singer in cabarets. His time in the military, often spent in solitary confinement, reinforced his rejection of the army, the state, and imposed discipline. After his military service, Siné began publishing his first cartoons in the early 1950s in the popular press, notably France Dimanche. In 1955, he received the Grand Prix de l’Humour Noir (Grand Prize for Black Humor) for the collection "Complaintes sans paroles" (Laments Without Words), which brought him to the attention of literary and artistic circles. His major success came in 1959 with the book "Les Chats" (The Cats), which established his distinctive, fierce, and poetic graphic style. At the same time, he became a political cartoonist for L’Express, where his anti-colonial cartoons during the Algerian War sparked controversy, lawsuits, and a reputation as an irrepressible provocateur. Siné identified as libertarian, anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist, anti-clerical, and secular, positions he expressed unflinchingly in his cartoons and in the press. A signatory of the Manifesto of the 121 during the Algerian War, he defended the right to insubordination and the fight against French colonialism. Hostile to all institutionalized religions, he attacked both the Catholic Church and other clergy, becoming one of the leading voices of a radical left steeped in anarchism. Siné publicly supported the Palestinian cause, which allowed his detractors to accuse him of antisemitism, to which he responded by asserting that he defended political anti-Zionism, not hatred of Jews. His pro-Palestinian commitment was part of a broader set of anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, and anti-Israeli positions regarding the policies of Israel in the occupied territories. Siné joined Charlie Hebdo in the early 1980s, where he made his mark with his political cartoons, dark humor, and attacks on power, money, and religious institutions. In July 2008, editor Philippe Val fired him after a column on Jean Sarkozy's possible conversion to Judaism, a column that led to accusations of antisemitism, which he vehemently denied. Siné denounced this as a betrayal of the libertarian and anticlerical spirit of satire, while Charlie Hebdo accepted his dismissal. In the aftermath, he launched his own weekly magazine, Siné Hebdo, followed by Siné Mensuel, where he continued his radical style. Weakened by health problems, he underwent major lung surgery at Bichat Hospital in Paris and died on the night of May 4-5, 2016, at the age of 87. To the very end, he remained true to his image as a radical and committed cartoonist, having left a lasting mark on French political caricature.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Choron dernière
Georges Bernier, alias Professor Choron, died January 10, 2005. He was 75 years old. The few death notices that appeared in the French press mainly focused on the scatological nature of his humor, or on the good man's provocative side. No one recalled the essential, which was that with his passing not only had one of the great proprietors of the French press disappeared, but he'd taken with him an artist in his own right, quite unique in his own way : Professor Choron.
Mammuth
Serge Pilardosse has just turned 60. He has worked since the age of 16, never unemployed, never sick. But the hour of retirement has come, and it is disillusionment: he is missing points, some employers having forgotten to declare it! Pushed by Catherine, his wife, he gets on his old motorcycle from the 70s, a "Mammut" which earned him his nickname, and sets off in search of his pay slips. During his journey, he rediscovers his past and his quest for administrative documents soon becomes incidental...
Droit de Réponse
"Droit de Réponse" (Right of Reply) is a French debate program broadcast between December 12, 1981 and September 19, 1987 on the TF1 channel, presented by Michel Polac and produced by Maurice Dugowson. Broadcast live on a weekly basis, on Saturdays from 8.30 p.m., the right of reply has been the source of many controversies, due to the various speakers who have come to present their point of view on the show (which leads to famous scandals , remained in the memory of viewers), but also for the variety and relevance of the topics covered, which ensured the success of the program on the air for several years. On French television, this program is considered by some observers as a “pioneer program in terms of controversy-show or clash, in modern language”.
Louise-Michel
In this radical and endearing black comedy, a group of retrenched female factory workers decide to pool their compensation money… and hire a hit man to liquidate their boss.
Cartoon circus
Feature film.
Cavanna, jusqu'à l'ultime seconde j'écrirai
The life and career of French novelist and journalist François Cavanna, his leading role in the invention of satirical press in France and foundation of 'Hara Kiri' and 'Charlie hedbo' newspapers.
Arrabal et les Garçons
The cinema of Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern is reminiscent of the one of Fernando Arrabal. This is why the two troublemakers of "Groland" invited the septuagenarian filmmaker to make an appearance in their film "Avida". This documentary, peppered with film excerpts, follows the Groland festival's progress with Arrabal as president.
Manifesto of the 121
On September 5, 1960, the trial of about twenty French activists from the "Jeanson Network" began, supporters in the metropolis of the action of the Algerian FLN independence activists. But after a few days, the situation was reversed and the trial transformed into a political arena, it was the government, the army, their policy, it was the entire Algerian war whose trial began. Accused, witnesses, lawyers, overflowing a stunned court, transformed the courtroom into a tribune of the opposition. The trial coincided with the publication of the "Manifesto of the 121" on the right to insubordination, signed among others by Jean Paul Sartre, Arthur Adamov, Simone de Beauvoir, André Breton, Marguerite Duras, Pierre Boulez, René Dumont, François Chatelet…
Jean-Jacques de Félice, The Passion For Justice
From the rights of minors before the juvenile court, young offenders from the neighborhoods of eastern Paris, or children of Algerian origin from the shantytowns of Nanterre, to the defense of colonized Kanaks and Polynesians; from the fight for conscientious objector status to the denunciation of torture and the death penalty, lawyer Jean-Jacques de Félice has been involved in every struggle. His pacifism knows no bounds: with organizations like Cimade, LDH, and the Louis-Lecoin Committee, he assists draft dodgers in numerous countries. These include Portuguese conscientious objectors refusing to fight in the wars in Angola and Mozambique, American deserters opposed to the Vietnam War, and Israeli objectors refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories. It is no surprise that, as early as 1971, he was one of the very first lawyers representing the farmers of the Larzac plateau.
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