Biography
Born into a family of artists, Olivier Cotte studied piano, classical dance and fine arts in parallel with his philosophy degree. Passionate about animation, he made his first film at the age of 14. Fascinated by the aesthetics of John Cage and Merce Cunningham, he first wanted to become a contemporary dancer, but then enrolled in the fine arts and the Sorbonne in cinema and literature.
Beginnings in the cinema
Olivier Cotte has worked for 15 years in the film and video industry as a director, computer graphics designer and special effects director for advertising, TV wraps, credits, clips, short films (Le canard à l'orange, 2002, by Patrick Bokanowski for example). He is a computer graphics designer or responsible for special effects for feature films, in particular for Wim Wenders ( Until the End of the World ), Roman Polanski ( Death and the Maiden ), Costa-Gavras ( Mad City ), Bob Swaim ( The Climb ), Josiane Balasko ( Un grand cri d'amour ), Jaco van Dormael ( The Eighth Day ), Leos Carax ( Pola X ), and Matthieu Kassovitz ( Assassin(s) ). He has directed several short films, mainly in animation or mixed techniques, including Terra Incognita (1995) in which he directs Michael Lonsdale.
Historian and theorist of animation cinema
Since 2002, he has devoted himself to writing fiction and working as a historian of animation cinema. He teacher at Gobelins, l'école de l'image from 2002 to 2014. He is the artistic and technical director of the opening shorts of the Annecy festival from 2002 to 2012. He also teaches at ESAG Penninghen, Esra, and abroad (Germany, China, Taiwan...). He collaborates with the reading committee of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée and for many film festivals and cinematheques. From 2002 to 2012, he wrote the tributes to the missing of the year for the Annecy festival. He wrote many articles for different magazines dedicated to cinema, image and computer science, then several books dedicated to animation film including an encyclopedia 100 ans de cinéma d'animation and Le grand livre des techniques d’animation, two monographs dedicated to filmmakers (David Ehrlich, and Georges Schwizgebel), a book of study and interviews with directors awarded an Oscar. He has also translated the animator's bible The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams and several technical books.
In 2012, he received an Award for outstanding contribution to animation studies at the World Festival of Animated Film - Animafest Zagreb.
Screenwriter and author around the script
Olivier Cotte had been the scriptwriter of a TV series Mr. TiVi in 1985, and had published some short stories, but it is from 2008 that he wrote several comics. With Jules Stromboni at the drawing, he published Le futuriste, mixing science fiction and fantasy, followed by two adaptations for the Casterman-Rivage collection: L'ultime défi de Sherlock Holmes and L'épouvantail. The post-apocalyptic universe will be developed with Xavier Coste for Le lendemain du monde. In a more humorous register, ; he releases with Martin Viot Memento Maurice at Editions du Long Bec in 2019. Olivier Cotte develops in his scenarios a predilection for imaginary universes, in particular science fiction and fantasy. This interest also leads him to collaborate with the Festival of Utopiales through evening classes and round tables. His passion for storytelling led him to write a screenwriting method, Writing for Film and Television, followed by Adapting a Book for Film and Television and Creating Characters for Films and Series, and to teach this subject in several schools such as Ispra. He has also translated Robert McKee's Dialogue: the Art of Verbal Action for Stage, Page and Screen, Character: The Art of Role and Cast Design for Page, Stage, and Screen and edited Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by the same author. He's also a playwright and novelist.
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