Frédéric Mitterrand

About Frédéric Mitterrand

Frédéric Mitterrand is the nephew of former President François Mitterrand. After studying history and geography at the University of Nanterre, he joined the Institute of Political Studies and became a teacher.

In 1971, he left teaching to pursue his passion for cinema by creating the legendary Olympic-Entrepôt and a network of art-house cinemas.

In the early 1980s, he began a television career, innovating a cultural talk show format, the most emblematic of which remains “du côté de chez Fred.” He produced numerous documentary series, tracing the lives of famous personalities (“Etoiles et toiles”) or historical epics (“Les Aigles foudroyés”, “mémoires d’exil”). From 2003 to 2005, he was the Deputy General Director in charge of programs at TV5.

His first feature film “Lettres d’amour en Somalie” (1981) was followed by the eponymous novel published the following year. In 1995, he directed the magnificent adaptation of Puccini’s opera “Madame Butterfly.”

In 2005, he published “la mauvaise vie,” a controversial novel in which he discusses his homosexuality. This novel was praised by critics.

An engaged public figure, he was successively the general commissioner of the Tunisian season in 1995, the Moroccan season in 1999, and the Czech season in 2002. Deeply attached to the culture of the Mediterranean basin, he chaired the Fonds Sud commission of the CNC from 1998 to 2000, then the advance on receipts commission of the CNC.

In June 2008, he was appointed director of the Villa Médicis in Rome by the Gall commission. The following year, the President of the Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, appointed him Minister of Culture and Communication, a position he held successfully until the presidential elections in May 2012.