Short bio & filmo

8 May 2026. Published by Benoît Labourdette.

12 min

Benoît Labourdette is a filmmaker, educator, researcher, essayist and consultant in cultural innovation and digital strategies. He is also a multidisciplinary artist and president of the Benoît Labourdette production agency, which builds cultural and digital experiences and develops creative engineering.

He has directed 7 feature documentaries or experimental fiction films and 400 short films. In 2005, when cameras first appeared in mobile phones, he founded the « Festival Pocket Films » with the Forum des images, an event that many practitioners in the sector still describe as foundational in their relationship to images and their anthropological reflection on technologies. In 2011 he co-founded « La Fête du court métrage » with the CNC, and during the Covid-19 crisis in 2020 he created the collaborative project « Par ma fenêtre ». He produces, writes and directs fiction, documentaries, experimental and participatory works, and institutional films in innovative formats. His creative practice is multidisciplinary, working in dialogue with the fields of painting, theatre, museums, photography, architecture and music.
For thirty years, he has led training programs in filmmaking and new media creation, in professional training contexts, in film schools such as la Fémis, and in many universities. He explores the new forms of storytelling linked to technological innovations (digital interactivity, mobile phones, drones, virtual reality, social media, artificial intelligence).
He supports companies, institutions and local authorities through consulting and professional training in their cultural and social innovation strategies. He works at a strategic level on institutional strategic plans, the transformation of cultural policies, and territorial dynamics, from the perspective of cultural rights. For his clients, he sets up experimental events, training programs and collective intelligence processes, with participatory artistic practice at the heart of the process.
He works on issues of health, disability, mental health and psychosocial skills, in partnership with public and not-for-profit institutions (Protection Judiciaire de la Jeunesse, DRAC, Cultures du cœur). With psychoanalyst Serge Tisseron, he founded the training and support program « Pocket Films Empathie ».
He oversees the development of creative and collaborative web platforms, tools for collective intelligence and digital heritage.
He designs, coordinates and supports creative, methodological and scientific projects with artificial intelligence (CinémAI at the Centre Pompidou, TUMO x IA at the Forum des images, facilitation of the Comité de veille IA at the Forum des images, mediation projects in the social sector).
He shares many resources on the website www.benoitlabourdette.com: philosophical essays, pedagogical methods, accounts of experiences, proposals for cultural policies.
In 2025 he founded BIP éditions.

Multidisciplinary practice

The local authorities, cultural institutions, schools, companies and social-sector organizations who work with Benoît Labourdette engage in processes where participatory artistic practice and collective intelligence serve as a shared method, around the issues of creativity, cultural democracy, youth and digital transformations. This can take the form of a workshop that unlocks a team’s voice, a digital platform that transforms the relationship between an institution and its publics, a strategic plan rebuilt with its staff, or a festival whose methods are subsequently taken up elsewhere. Beyond the deliverables, these processes change how the organizations involved work.

The seven fields below are seven possible entry points into this same practice.

Creation: multidisciplinary artist, author, filmmaker and producer.
Cultural policy support: consulting for local authorities, institutions and companies on methods of cooperation and work, digital tools, cultural innovation, participation, youth, cultural democracy, psychosocial skills.
Innovative educational, artistic and cultural projects: design and facilitation of attractive and innovative projects for audiences, using digital tools and centred on creativity (writing, drawing, painting, photography, video, music, live performance…).
Pedagogy: professional training in innovative pedagogies, new media, image education, cultural rights and the issues of cultural policies.
Technology: expertise in technological and strategic innovations for the audiovisual, live performance, cultural and social sectors. Implementation of collaborative web platforms, digital tools for cooperation, video platforms, databases, digital heritage strategies. Integration of generative artificial intelligences into professional practices.
Cultural engineering: creation of festivals, cultural events, workshops, participatory and transmedia territorial projects.
Action research and philosophical writing: ethnomethodological and philosophical approach, innovation, independence and critical thinking, thinking-in-action, regular publication of research and essays.

Dates

Benoît Labourdette was born in 1970.
Among other initiatives, he founded the Court Bouillon screenings (1988-1997), the video production centre of the Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle (1991-), the « Par ma fenêtre » video platform (2020-), the Benoît Labourdette production company (2016-) and BIP éditions (2025-).
He co-founded Quidam production (1999-2013), the Festival Pocket Films (2005-2010) with the Forum des images, the Fête nationale du court-métrage (2011-) with the CNC, and the « Pocket Films Empathie » program with Serge Tisseron.
In 2018 he was appointed Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes académiques by the French Ministry of National Education.

Creation

A multidisciplinary artist, author, filmmaker and producer, Benoît Labourdette writes and directs fiction films, documentaries, experimental and participatory works. He often works at the intersection of audiovisual creation and live performance. He collaborates artistically with creators from a wide range of horizons. Painting, theatre, opera, photography, architecture, music, cinema… : Richard Texier, Pippo Delbono, Nicolas Frize, Macha Makeïeff, Alain Fleischer, Louise Moaty, Jean-Philippe Poirée-Ville, Myriam Drosne, Olivier Mellano, Joseph Morder…

He explores the renewal of audiovisual writing with new tools: mobile phones, drones, cameras, virtual reality, generative artificial intelligence.

Beyond audiovisual work, he also engages in musical composition, painting, live performance, and philosophical and literary writing.

His works and approaches are presented in cinema and art venues in France and abroad: Forum des images, Maison populaire de Montreuil, La Véranda Saint-Jean de Braye, lux scène nationale de Valence, Ma scène nationale Montbéliard, Instituts français and alliances françaises (Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, Canada)… as well as in international festivals (Festival du nouveau cinéma de Montréal, SESIFF Seoul, Festival de Pesaro, Festival international du cinéma de Rio de Janeiro, Digifest Toronto…).

Selected filmography

Feature films:
- La tête dans l’eau - 1995.
- Fatigue - 2000.
- Triton - 2007.
- Les acteurs inconscients - 2009.
- Parle-moi DEL - 2016.
- Souviens-toi ici par la fenêtre - 2020.
- Droit à la parole ! - 2026 (documentary on new education, around the school La Source).
Screenplay: Irène - 2003, feature film directed by Ivan Calbérac.
Short films: four hundred short films and video artworks, most available on www.benoitlabourdette.com/creations-artistiques/cinema/.
Filmography and more on the website of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
Filmography on IMDb.

Cultural policy support

Benoît Labourdette supports local authorities, institutions and companies in their cultural innovation processes, at strategic levels. His method rests on collective intelligence practiced at every level — governance, teams, publics — as a daily requirement. Participatory artistic creation is the instrument through which voices circulate and decisions are built together. The support takes various forms: consulting on methods of cooperation, restructuring of institutional strategic plans, experimental events, professional training, awareness-raising on cultural rights, facilitation of bid or transformation processes.

He collaborates in particular with the Observatoire des Politiques Culturelles, the MPAA (Paris), the city of Les Lilas, Nantes métropole, the département de l’Isère, the Direction Territoriale de la PJJ Limousin, the DRAC Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the Métropole de Lyon (Erasme innovation lab), the Forum des images, etc.

A few examples:

Plateforme Azimut (2024-2026), developed for the MPAA: a digital space for exchange and visibility between amateur artists, designed as a tool for cultural democracy and collective intelligence.
Awareness-raising on cultural rights for the Nantes metropolis, 2022.
Facilitation of the Collège des médias for Saint-Denis’s bid for European Capital of Culture, 2022.
Support to the cultural affairs department of the city of Les Lilas (2018-2022): « La fabrique numérique » platform, “Boussole de la médiation culturelle”, etc.
From 2025, support to the Direction Territoriale PJJ Limousin and the DRAC Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on the development of psychosocial skills through art and culture, within the framework of the Culture-Justice partnership (a three-year process, with the contribution of child psychiatrist Marie-Noëlle Clément).
Concerted assessment of image education in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, 2026. Collective intelligence methodology, digital platform and collaborative publication for the agency ALCA.

Innovative educational, artistic and cultural projects

Benoît Labourdette designs and runs projects for the public — attractive, innovative, using digital tools and centred on creativity (writing, drawing, painting, photography, video, music, live performance…). He works with museums, cinemas, cinema networks, performing arts venues, social-sector and medico-social organizations (Musée de l’Homme, Musée de la Grande Guerre, MacVal, the city of Les Lilas, Passeurs d’images network, ALCA Aquitaine, the Instituts Français network, the city of Charleville-Mézières, CCAS-EDF, Festival International de Films de Femmes de Créteil, Forum des images, Ateliers Canopé, Cultures du cœur, Protection Judiciaire de la Jeunesse, etc.).

A significant part of this activity now concerns issues of health, mental health, disability and the development of psychosocial skills among children and young people, through participatory artistic practice.

A few examples:

“La machine à voyager dans le futur”, a cultural tour in the social sector combining creation and conversational artificial intelligences, Cultural Summer 2023, produced by Cultures du cœur.
Itinerant screenings, cinematic walks through neighborhoods, since 2011.
Putting feminism into practice in cultural action, a collection of inspiring initiatives.
Visio-corporeal metamorphoses : participatory artistic action at the Louvre-Lens, 2023.
« Sur la plage de mon imaginaire » : permanent video installation in a hospital, 2023, Arts dans la cité, GHU Flers.
Memory of sport in the Great War, participatory creation of a photographic exhibition, 2024.
Create your film on the imaginary of disasters, 2024-2025.
Festival Raisons d’Agir : when collage frees speech, 2026.

Professional training and pedagogy

Benoît Labourdette designs and leads professional training programs in innovative pedagogies, new media, image education, cultural rights and the issues of cultural policies, particularly aimed at youth, for the Observatoire des Politiques Culturelles, the CNFPT, the INA and many actors in the cultural and social sectors — for example the training program « Culture, jeunesse et numérique » (OPC). His training programs are based on collective intelligence methods and on the artistic engagement of participants.

He also teaches audiovisual creation, digital writing forms and skill-building in the new realities of technologies and uses, in several universities (Sorbonne Nouvelle, Artois, Montpellier), national schools (la Fémis, ENSAV, Le Fresnoy Studio National, École des Beaux-Arts de Paris), professional training centres and institutions (Institut pour la photographie, CEFPF, Arte, TV5 Monde, CFI, audiovisual production and distribution companies, cinema networks).

He regularly gives lectures on the issues of digital, image education, cinema, photography, new media, drones, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, cultural rights, pedagogy, mental health through creation… (Gaîté Lyrique, Rencontres d’Arles, Rencontres Passeurs d’Images, Le Fresnoy, Digifest, INA Collège iconique, BnF, academic conferences…). With psychoanalyst Serge Tisseron he founded the training and support program « Pocket Films Empathie », at the intersection of audiovisual practice and the clinical work of empathy.

Digital and audiovisual technologies

Benoît Labourdette holds an expertise in technological and strategic innovations for the audiovisual, live performance, cultural and social sectors: collaborative web platforms, digital tools for cooperation, video platforms, databases, digital heritage strategies.

He sets up video editing, web development, VOD and transmedia projects, and supports organizations in their digital development (ACID, Périphérie, Forum des images, Documentaire sur Grand écran, Cinémas 93, Ciné-Tamaris, Drôle de Trame…).

Since 2022, he has integrated generative artificial intelligences into his professional practices, with a requirement for ethics and critical thinking. He notably designed and led the project CinémAI with the Studio 13/16 of the Centre Pompidou (2024), co-built « TUMO x IA - Voyages créatifs au cœur de l’IA » with the Forum des images / TUMO Paris (350 teenagers), and facilitated the « Comité de veille IA » of the Forum des images, which brought together philosophers, artists, educators and corporate experts.

Cultural and digital engineering

Benoît Labourdette leads the creation of festivals, cultural events, workshops, participatory and transmedia territorial projects.

He founded and directed the Festival Pocket Films (2005-2010) with the Forum des images (Paris). Born when cameras first appeared in mobile phones, this festival accompanied the emergence of a new practice. Twenty years later, many practitioners still describe it as a foundational moment in their reflection on images and digital tools. He also founded the Festival Caméras Mobiles (2011-2013) with lux scène nationale de Valence, and in 2011 co-founded for the CNC the national initiative Le jour le plus court, which later became La Fête du court métrage.

He supports local authorities in setting up citizen, participatory and creative projects in image education using digital tools (Marathon cinéma - Évry agglomeration, Imediacinema - Vitrolles, etc.). Since 2025, within the Classes Culturelles Numériques program of the Métropole de Lyon (Erasme innovation lab), he has led a project of virtual reality filmmaking for middle school students, in partnership with Festivals Connexion. He leads working teams of all sizes in a wide range of contexts.

Action research and philosophical writing

Benoît Labourdette conducts research with an ethnomethodological and philosophical approach, oriented towards innovation, independence and critical thinking, for a thinking-in-action. He publishes on his research. He is an associate researcher at IRCAV (Institute for research on cinema and audiovisual creation, research unit of the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3).

Innovation is at the heart of his approach. It is a requirement of meaning, for cultural, artistic, social or technical projects, in genuine openness to the issues of the contemporary world: social, psychological, ecological, feminist, political in the deep sense of the term. This goes through research in pedagogy, cultural mediation and philosophy of art, always combined with field experience.

He regularly publishes philosophical essays on his website, particularly in the section « Propositions philosophiques » (philosophy of presence, of otherness, of artistic creation, of the digital age and artificial intelligence) and « Défendre la culture autrement : méthodes pour demain », a body of texts on the transformation of cultural policies.

A few examples of research projects: « Éducation aux images 2.1 » (with Passeurs d’images Île-de-France, 2017-2022), regular contributions to academic conferences and publications (Université Paris 3, École Louis Lumière, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier…), and the running of his own private research lab (artistic innovation experiments, co-creation workshops on concepts and methodologies).

Publications

Benoît Labourdette regularly publishes articles, particularly in the journals Esprit, Nectart, the journal of the Observatoire des Politiques Culturelles, Art Press and Médiathèmes. He published «Tournez un film avec votre téléphone portable» (Éditions Dixit) in 2008, «Éducation à l’image 2.0» (Éditions de l’ACAP Pôle Image Picardie) in 2015, in 2022 the graphic poetry book «Calligrammes» (BLP, 2022), the essay «Notes sur l’image animée» (BLP, 2022), the guide Créer, penser, écrire des scénarii aujourd’hui (BIP éditions, 2025) and « Défendre la culture autrement : méthodes pour demain » (BIP éditions, December 2025, 520 pages, free downloadable e-book). In 2015, he inaugurated the Paris City «MOOC Digital Media». He is one of the contributors to the collective books «Téléphone mobile et création» (Éditions Armand Colin - Recherche, 2014) and «Faire culture - De pères à pairs» (Presses universitaires de Grenoble, 2021).

Education

Benoît Labourdette was trained in the humanities and in cinema at the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3 (Master 2 level). He is trained in psychoanalytic clinical work. In addition to his expertise in digital and audiovisual techniques, databases and creative techniques, he has developed an expertise in new pedagogies, in collective intelligence methods, and in organizational management methods.