Synopsis courtesy of The Party Sales:

Men and women, born between the wars. They have nothing in common except their homosexuality, and their decision to live openly at a time when society rejected them. They’ve loved, struggled, desired, made love. Today they tell us about their pioneering lives, and how they navigated the desire to remain ordinary with the need to liberate themselves in order to thrive. They were fearless.

Tidbits:

• Cannes Film Festival – 2012
• BFI London Film Festival – 2012
• César Awards – 2013 – Winner: Best Documentary Film

“My work centers essentially on the idea of the portrait, that is to pick an individual and try to picture his or her inner landscape – one could almost call it the inner space. And the discontinued narrative helps me to approach it.”

Courtesy of The Lives of Thérèse press kit:

After studying art history, Sébastien Lifshitz began working in the world of contemporary art in 1990, assisting curator Bernard Blistène at the Pompidou Center, and photographer Suzanne Lafont. In 1994, he turned to filmmaking with his first short, Il faut que je l’aime.

In 1995, he made a documentary about film director Claire Denis, and in 1998 he completed his mid-length feature Open Bodies, which was selected for numerous international film festivals, including Cannes and Clermont-Ferrand, and won the Prix Jean Vigo and the Kodak Award for Best Short Film. In 1999, he directed Cold Lands for Arte as part of their series Gauche-Droite. The film was selected for the Venice Film Festival.

In 2000, he directed his first full-length feature, Come Undone, hailed by the critics and released internationally. In 2001, his second full-length feature, a documentary – road movie entitled The Crossing, was selected for the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes. In 2004 he began shooting Wild Side, which went on to be selected for numerous international festivals and won, among other awards, the Berlin Film Festival’s Teddy Award. In 2009 he shot Going South, which was selected for the 2010 Berlin Film Festival. Then in 2012, he directed Les Invisibles, a documentary film selected in Cannes Film Festival in the Official Selection. The film won the César (French Academy Award) for Best Documentary of 2013. That same year, he completed the documentary Bambi which was presented at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Award. In 2014, Sébastien Lifshitz received the «Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres.»

Filmography:

• Casa Susanna (2022)
• Bambi, une nouvelle femme [Bambi, A French Woman] (2021)
• Petite Fille [Little Girl] (2020)
• Avenue de lamballe (2019)
• Adolescents (2019)
• Les vies de Thérèse [The Lives of Thérèse] (2016)
• Bambi (2013)
• Les invisibles [The Invisibles] (2012)
• Plein sud [Going South] (2009)
• Jour et nuit (2008)
• Les temoins (2006)
• Wild Side (2004)
• La traversée [The Crossing] (2001)
• Presque rien [Come Undone] (2000)
• Les terres froides [Cold Lands] (1999)
• Les corps ouverts [Open Bodies] (1998)
• Claire Denis la vagabonde (1995)
• Il faut que je l’aime (1994)

Here is a curated selection of links for additional insight/information: