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Xavier Giacometti director, storyboarder, screenwriter.

Director and screenwriter of the feature film " YAKARI a spectacular journey "
at Dargaud Media, from September 2017 to January 2020.  Theatrical release at the end of Sept. 2020.

Director of the animated TV series :
YAKARI seasons # 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 (156 episodes).
TOUPOU the wild child of Central Park (26 episodes).
CARTOUCHE prince of the suburbs (26 episodes).
DRAGON-FLYZ (26 episodes).
FIRE QUEST (26 episodes).
HAPPYNESS the secret of Loch Ness (12 episodes).
PIM WRIGHT season #2 (52 episodes)

Scriptwriter of the comic book album YAKARI n° 42 "The son of the eagle" drawn by Derib.
published by Le Lombard, available in bookshops Oct. 2020

Scriptwriter of many episodes of the TV series Yakari

Cartouche Prince des faubourgs

Diploma "visual expression" obtained in 1984 at the Ecole Estienne in Paris, I collaborated with the comic book publishers Aedena, then RACKHAM since its creation at the end of the 80s. First a graphic designer and illustrator in publishing, I have been working in animation for TV for more than 25 years, I have worked in all functions; character-design / scenery / storyboard, before becoming assistant director in pre-prod, prod and post-production. I was thus able to intervene at all stages, from creation to delivery. Having become a director myself, I collaborated with about fifteen French companies; C&D / 2DHD / Gaumont /Xilam / Storimages / Ellipsanime / P.M.M.P. / Millimages / Dargaud-Media etc... and made many stays abroad for the follow-up of my productions; China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Canada, USA, and, of course, Germany where I made long stays in several cities for the Franco-German co-production of my feature film.

In the 90's, I was lucky enough to use traditional techniques such as paper, ink and paint, and 35mm film, to gradually move on to all-digital (zero-paper) and then to CGI (3D). The last two seasons of the YAKARI Series, and my film are in CGI animation. I trained in Maya, Harmony, and Z-Brush software. For a few years, I've been writing myself: for the feature film Yakari and for episodes of the series.

In the meantime, I was a jury member at CICAF (Hanghzou China Festival May 2009), speaker at CCIF (China Cartoon Industry Forum in Mudanjang China August 2010), and president of the Jury of the Arras Short Film Festival. I started some time ago to make interventions in schools (Master, Reunion Island) and conferences to talk about techniques and animated language (Marignana, Paris, Strasbourg).

I love directing because I am passionate about storytelling in all its forms: writing, drawing, storyboarding, editing, and also, sound and mixing. Directing doesn't stop at the early stages. The best screenplay in the world is nothing, without the creators who transform it into a series, or a film. No matter what our job is, whether we are producers, writers, directors, musicians, sound engineers, sound engineers or even calibrators, we tell the story. We make the story make sense. When you're a director, you have the privilege of being able to act on all these levers.

My first passion was comic books. European first; Giraud, Jijé, Hermann, Forest, etc. Then the shock; US comics, Milton Caniff, Franck Robbins. the Marvel of the 70's: Tuska, Kirby, Steranko, Ditko, Grandenetti... French new wave, with the founders of Metal-Hurlant, Moebius and others... Second cultural tsunami: the alternative punk movement of the 80s, self-production of fanzines, vinyls and concerts.
Early 90's, first steps in animation on French-American-Japanese co-productions at C&D, Jean Chalopin's company. Discovery of Asian visionaries, films and manga. During all this time; encounters with talented people, in France and elsewhere, who make, in total anonymity, animated works that are broadcast all over the world. Within the 2DHD company, with David Dany and Diego Zamora, we have developed concepts for animation, some of these projects will become comics and motion design.

   Xavier G.

The images
of this page are copyright :
Ellipse, Xilam, 2minutes, Belvision,
Millimages, P.R.H., Age
Storimages

 

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