Thierry Michel

Taken together his films provide a unique overview of the social, economic and political life of the country.

• Name — Thierry Michel • Born — 13 October 1952 • Birthplace — Charleroi, Belgium • Known for — Congo River, Beyond Darkness • Occupation — Film director

Thierry Michel was born in Charleroi in Belgium on 13 October 1952 in an industrial region called "The Black Country". At the age of 16 he began cinema studies at the Institute of broadcast arts in Brussels. While there he experienced the last student upheavals of 1968. He became one of the leaders of an emerging Walloon cinema movement. His 1982 Chronique d'une saison d'acier (Chronicle of a steel season) is set in the mining and steel region of his childhood. This "factional" film, combining fiction and fact, analyzes the rapid decline of the Walloon steel industry that began in 1974 and the way in which this affected the region. His first feature film Hiver 60 (Winter 60) which tells of the 1960–1961 Winter General Strike in Belgium was made in 1982. The film was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival. He was among the signatories of the Manifesto for Walloon culture in 1983. He again combined fiction and fact with his 1985 Hôtel Particulier (Mansion) about the prison system. In 1993 Thierry Michel made a film about a scandal that had deeply shaken Belgium: La Grâce Perdue d'Alain Van Der Biest (The fall from grace of fr). This tells a story of a senior politician who became involved in corruption and organized crime, his drinking problem and eventual suicide. Michel's Métamorphose d'une gare (2010) documents the construction of the new station of Guillemins in Liège over a nine-year period. It does not hide the problems and frictions in this huge project, but also draws out the enthusiasm and pride of the builders.

Thierry Michel became interested in ethnographic work in developing countries, particularly Africa. He directed his second feature film Issue de Secours (Emergency Exit) in 1987, a poetic and mystical work set in the Moroccan desert. This film was co-produced by RTBF, the Belgian radio and TV broadcaster. He depicted the street urchins and slums of Brazil in the documentaries Gosses de Rio (Kids from Rio) and À Fleur de Terre (Grass roots), both released in 1990. His award-winning Zaïre, le cycle du serpent (Zaire, the Cycle of the Serpent) portrays the famous and the outcasts of Zairian society. It was released in 1992. He investigated charity operations in the dangerous conditions of Somalia with his 1994 Somalie, l'Humanitaire s'en va-t-en guerre (Somalia, the Humanitarian Goes to War). Thierry Michel returned to Zaire in 1995 to make a film about the legacy of colonialism and the white presence in the country 35 years after independence. He was arrested, jailed and deported a few days after arriving and his equipment was seized. However, he managed to complete Les Derniers Colons (The last colonials) using images from the preliminary shooting. The same year he made a documentary on white settlers in Zaire following independence named Nostalgie post-coloniale (Post-colonial nostalgia). He returned to Africa in 1996 to make Donka, radioscopie d'un hôpital africain (Donka, fluoroscopy of an African hospital), which depicts the bleak conditions in Donka Hospital in Conakry, Guinea. In 1998 after the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko Thierry Michel made the historical journalism film Mobutu roi du Zaïre (Mobutu, King of Zaire), a Franco-Belgian co-production. Michel watched over 950 hours of archived films to make the documentary, selecting extracts and interleaving them with interviews of many witnesses, both opponents and supporters of Mobutu. In 2003 he released Iran, sous le voile des apparences (Iran, under the veil of appearances), contrasting the religious fervor of some with the desire for freedom of others. In the film Michel defends president Mohammad Khatami, using extracts from the president's propaganda without commentary to present his struggle for the liberty of the people. Thierry Michel returned once more to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2004, making a film that explores the majestic Congo River (2005) and the life it creates in Congo River, Beyond Darkness. His first assistant in making this movie was the local director Guy Kabeya Muya. Thierry Michel made the TV documentary Katanga, la guerre du cuivre (Katanga, the copper war) in 2009, the basis for the film Katanga Business. The film surveys the industrial and artisanal mining industry in Katanga Province. It explores the murky dealings between the state-owned Gécamines, other mining companies and individuals like George Forrest, Chinese companies and state officials in the copper industry, and questions who benefits from the mining operations. A book was published with the same title with photographs by Thierry Michel. Floribert Chebeya, a human rights activist in the Congo, was assassinated on 2 June 2010. Thierry Michel made the documentary L'affaire Chebeya covering the trial and events leading up to it.

Films directed by Thierry Michel include: • 1970: Mines (court métrage) • 1971: Ferme du Fir (court métrage) • 1973: Portrait d'un auto-portrait • 1975: Pays Noir, Pays Rouge • 1982: Chronique des saisons d'acier • 1982: Hiver 60 • 1985: Hôtel particulier • 1987: Issue de secours • 1990: Gosses de Rio • 1990: À fleur de terre • 1992: Zaïre, le cycle du serpent • 1993: La Grâce perdue d'Alain Van der Biest • 1994: Somalie, l'humanitaire s'en va-t'en-guerre • 1995: Les Derniers Colons • 1995: Nostalgies post coloniales • 1996: Donka, radioscopie d'un hôpital africain • 1999: Mobutu roi du Zaïre • 2003: Iran, sous le voile des apparences • 2005: Congo River, Beyond Darkness • 2009: Katanga Business • 2010: Métamorphose d'une gare • 2012: L'affaire Chebeya • 2013: The Irresistible Rise of Moïse Katumbi • 2015: The Man Who Mends Women: The Wrath of Hippocrates • 2017: Children of Chance • 2021: L'école de la dernière chance • 2022: Empire of Silence (film)

Thierry Michel is recorded as having received honorary citizen of Liège and Prix de la Pensée Wallonne.