Early career
After studying social sciences and communications, he worked as a creative in an advertisement agency.
He became a photographic reporter in 1992, doing missions for the UNESCO and travelling the world for the Gamma agency. In five years, he did thirty pieces in fifteen countries.
His career in journalism shaped a working method that he would later apply in his fictional works. His stories are preceded by extensive research, which allows him to write stories that are as close to reality as possible. This vision of cinema, a "lived-in filmmaking" of sorts, aims to create fictional stories that are as documented as possible. Often tragicomical, his films present stories that are inspired by reality, with often non-professional actors. The objective is to blur the frontier between our world and the fictional realm.
He applied this method for the first time in 1997, with his first comic script: Fox One – Armageddon. To create this comic series, he attended the Red Flag Air Force Exercise at the Nellis Air Force Base, in Nevada, visited the Charles de Gaulle, Foch and Clemenceau aircraft carriers during high seas exercises, and visited French Air Force Bases. The Fox One series was translated in five languages and sold over 90 000 copies.
Film career
In 2002, he directed his first short film, Undercover, [1] a seven-minute presentation which mixed cinema and a live show; it won multiple international awards. [2] In it one can find one of his central themes: the blurred distinction between fiction and reality.
Later on, he filmed Coming-out (2004), [3] a comedy starring Omar Sy, whose script was late adapted to a live show by comedians Omar et Fred. In 2006, he directed Mon dernier rôle, [4] starring Patrick Chesnais and guest starring Patrick Poivre d’Arvor during a fake news broadcast. This black comedy was selected in fifty festivals, winning several awards, including the grand prize of the Meudon short film festival and the grand prize of the Comedia Festival, in Montreal. [5]
In 2007, he returned to his journalistic roots, shooting the documentary Hôtel du Cheval Blanc, [6] for six months. This film presented the terrible living conditions of the thousands of families who are hosted in insanitary hotels every year.
In 2008, he went to China to adapt and stage his first theatre performance, The Nutcracker ballet. This version, produced by the Gruber Ballet Opéra, which presents 39 artists from Chinese State Circus, has made a world tour, starting in France in 2009.
In 2012, he returned to cinema, writing and directing Welcome to China [7] with Gad Elmaleh and Arié Elmaleh. [8] Shot in Shanghai, the short film presents the two brothers playing their own roles.
In 2013, he started research for his first feature film, which tells the story of a posh high school teacher in Paris that is transferred to the city's poorer suburbs. True to his method, he started researching France's educational institutions.
For three years, Olivier immersed himself in the daily lives of high schools of the Seine-Saint-Denis region, on the outskirts of the french capital. Among them, he resided in the Barbara High School of Stains, which became the main setting of the film. [9] Furthermore, the students of the High School participated in the project, becoming characters of the feature film.
Shooting started in 2016. The film bore its final title, Les Grands Esprits (The Teacher in English), with Denis Podalydès in the main role. The Teacher was released in theaters in France in 2017. It was shown in cinemas all around the world, in countries including the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Italy, Spain, Japan, Taiwan, Nigeria, Senegal and the Ivory Coast. The film was used as an educational tool by teachers in France and several other countries. [10]
Olivier Ayache-Vidal is currently researching the gastronomical world, in order to prepare his future film projects.
Photographic journalism career
Between 1992 and 1997, he worked as a photographic journalist for a number of publications and journalistic agencies (Gamma Agency, Agence Vu, Science & Vie Junior), covering scientific, cultural and social subjects. He also went on a mission to Southeast Asia, covering the UNESCO’s Education For All Programme. There, he photographed vulnerable populations helped by the programme, such as the Akha, Hmong, Lisu and Karen peoples of Thailand, the women of Bangladesh and the children of the streets of Saigon.
In total, he made thirty pieces in close to fifteen countries: Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, China, the United States, Jamaica, Guyana, Nepal, Brazil.
