Isidore Bethel

Isidore Bethel is a French-American filmmaker who was among Filmmaker's "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in 2020^[5] and DOC NYC's "40 Under 40" in 2023.^[6] The films he edits, directs, and produces use filmmaking to make sense of overwhelming experiences and tackle recurrent themes of displacement, sexuality, aging, trauma, grief, therapy, and art-making.^[7] His first feature film as director, Liam, premiered at the Boston LGBT Film Festival in 2018^[8] and received the Jury Prize in the documentary section of the Paris LGBTQ+ Film Festival.^[9] His second film, Acts of Love, which French actor Francis Leplay co-directed, premiered at Hot Docs,^[10] received the Tacoma Film Festival's Best Feature Award,^[11] and appeared on MovieWeb's list of the top LGBTQ+ films of 2021.^[12]

Films he has edited have screened at Cannes, SXSW, and the Berlinale,^[13] in museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Beirut Art Center, and the Pompidou Center, and on broadcast platforms such as POV,^[14] The New York Times' Op-Docs,^[15] and Netflix.^[16] He has worked in France, Mexico, and the United States with directors such as Dominique Cabrera,^[17] Jean-Xavier de Lestrade,^[18] Juan Pablo González,^[19] Laurent Bécue-Renard,^[20] Juan Manuel Sepúlveda,^[21] Daniel Hymanson,^[22] and Iliana Sosa.^[23] He has also collaborated with filmmakers in Lebanon,^[24] the United Kingdom,^[25] Ethiopia,^[26] India,^[27] and Turkey.^[28] He acts as a producer on many of the films that he edits, which have received support from the Sundance Institute,^[29] the Ford Foundation,^[30] Field of Vision,^[31] the CNC in France,^[32] Doc Society^[33], Film4^[34] and The Whickers in the UK,^[35] and Mexico's IMCINE and FONCA funds.^[36] Critics have characterized his editing as demonstrative of "admirable restraint,"^[37] "tender,"^[38] "astute,"^[39] "energized yet never rushed,"^[40] and "elegant."^[41]

He has served on juries for the Paris LGBTQ+ Film Festival,^[42] the Chicago International Film Festival,^[43] and the National Film Festival for Talented Youth.^[44]

A graduate of Harvard University,^[45] the École Normale Supérieure, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago,^[46] Bethel has received funding from the Institut Français,^[47] France's Île-de-France region,^[48] the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation,^[49] and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation^[50] as well as support from Berlinale Talents,^[51] the Tribeca Film Institute,^[52] the Villa Medici,^[53] the Gotham,^[54] Film Independent,^[55] the Logan Nonfiction Program,^[56] and Eurodoc.^[57] He has taught at Stone Soup's filmmaking workshop,^[58] Sundance's Art of Editing fellowship,^[59] Sarah Lawrence College's Paris campus, La Fémis,^[60] and Parsons Paris.^[61]