Biography
While Pierre-William Glenn has dabbled in various aspects of filmmaking, including acting, directing, and writing, he is best regarded as a prolific and award-winning cinematographer. As a young man he trained at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques, which has since been rechristened La Fémis. Glenn earned his first film credit in 1969 for shooting the short film "La question ordinaire." Since then he has shot more than 60 feature films and become known for his groundbreaking Steadicam techniques. With the coming of the 1970s, he found himself swept up in the French New Wave, and collaborated with acclaimed auteur François Truffaut on the crime drama "Une belle fille comme moi," the child-centered drama "Small Change," and the Oscar-winning romance "Day for Night." In the 1980s, Glenn's keen eye and floating camerawork earned him the Ernest Artaria Award at the Locarno International Film Festival for Jacques Bral's dramedy "Exterior Night" ("Extérieur, nuit") as well as a César nomination for Bertrand Tavernier's science fiction-fueled drama "Death Watch" ("La mort en direct"). Glenn and Bertrand were frequent collaborators, making seven films together from 1974's crime drama "The Clockmaker of St. Paul" ("L'horloger de Saint-Paul") to the 1983 documentary "Mississippi Blues." Since then, Glenn has continued to contribute to the look of French cinema. Though he's grown more selective of his projects since the 1990s, he's not lost his edge, shooting features like the racy sex comedy "Un fil à la patte."
