Jean-Daniel Cadinot
Encyclopedia
Jean-Daniel Cadinot was a French
director and producer of gay pornographic films.
As a teenager Cadinot hoped to become a painter and, due to parental opposition, ran away from home at the age of 17. In the early 1960s, he studied at École des Arts et Métiers
and at the National School of Photography. He then began his professional career at Valois Studios, where he directed mainstream films for French-speaking audiences.
He first pursued a career in photography
, which took on a homosexual angle with his nude portrait of writer Yves Navarre
and singer Patrick Juvet
. His erotic photographs appeared in the first edition of Gai Pied
. He began to sell nude photographs and finally moved to directing movies in 1978. By then, he had published 17 photo albums, with total sales of over 170,000 copies.
Setting up his own production company, French Art, Cadinot made dozens of 16 mm films.
Characteristic of Cadinot's films was an emphasis on plot; much more so than in typical porn films. His plots were often based originally on incidents from his own life, but he was known for adjusting the plot during filming to incorporate experiences of his actors. He insisted on realism in his films, especially in sex scenes, saying that the actors "do not portray things that are imposed on them by me, but things they like to do themselves".
By 1998 he had directed 54 films, some under the pseudonym Tony Dark.
After Cadinot's death, the company French Art is now being headed by François Orenn, a classically-trained pianist who started working for Jean-Daniel Cadinot as a score composer and who has managed the company from 2002. Two unfinished films by Cadinot, Subversion and Le Culte d'Eros, have since been released by him. Orenn has also begun directing films of his own in the typical Cadinot style (Anges et Démons and L'Avarice) and with Cadinot's technical crew.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
director and producer of gay pornographic films.
Biography
Cadinot was born during WWII, in German-occupied Paris, in the Montmartre hill area of the Batignoles Quarter. His parents were tailors who custom fit clothes. (Cadinot later remarked that while his parents had clothed men, he earned his reputation for undressing them.)As a teenager Cadinot hoped to become a painter and, due to parental opposition, ran away from home at the age of 17. In the early 1960s, he studied at École des Arts et Métiers
École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers
Arts et Métiers ParisTech is the French leading engineering school in the fields of mechanics and industrialization.The school trained 85,000 engineers since its foundation in 1780 by the Duke of La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt....
and at the National School of Photography. He then began his professional career at Valois Studios, where he directed mainstream films for French-speaking audiences.
He first pursued a career in photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, which took on a homosexual angle with his nude portrait of writer Yves Navarre
Yves Navarre
Yves Navarre was a French writer. A gay man, most of his work concerned homosexuality and associated issues, such as AIDS. In his romantic works, Navarre was noted for his tendency to emphasize sensuality and "the mystical qualities of love" rather than sexuality or sensationalism...
and singer Patrick Juvet
Patrick Juvet
Patrick Juvet is a former model turned singer-songwriter, who had a string of hit records in France...
. His erotic photographs appeared in the first edition of Gai Pied
Gai pied
Gai pied or Gai pied hebdo was a monthly French gay magazine, founded by Jean Le Bitoux. Its name, which literally means "Gay foot", is a homophone of guêpier, which means a hornet's nest or, figuratively, a trap or pitfall — a reference to the magazine's determination to torment the...
. He began to sell nude photographs and finally moved to directing movies in 1978. By then, he had published 17 photo albums, with total sales of over 170,000 copies.
Setting up his own production company, French Art, Cadinot made dozens of 16 mm films.
Characteristic of Cadinot's films was an emphasis on plot; much more so than in typical porn films. His plots were often based originally on incidents from his own life, but he was known for adjusting the plot during filming to incorporate experiences of his actors. He insisted on realism in his films, especially in sex scenes, saying that the actors "do not portray things that are imposed on them by me, but things they like to do themselves".
By 1998 he had directed 54 films, some under the pseudonym Tony Dark.
Death notice
On April 23, 2008 Jean-Daniel Cadinot's Official Site posted the following notice:Dear friends, critics and others,
If you're reading these words I will have put down my camera, switched off the lights, drawn the curtains and taken my final bow. May all the efforts and work of a whole life, the quest for the moment of pure truth in the sublime communion of two beings under the spell of the undefinable desire for the other, inspire those who inherit my heart.
The human being is made such that it only remembers the good and the beautiful, therefore I leave you with a free mind and a head overflowing with a myriad of young men, sometimes strong and vigorous, sometimes fragile and sensitive. All of them gave me these unforgettable moments of their most tender intimacy, moments that only a few really know but which I made into images to allow you to admire them over and over again.
Never were success or personal fortune my creed. You offered me gratitude and I thank you for that because I wanted nothing else. Cadinot salutes you. Remember a kindly fellow, an extreme observer given to rages and contradiction but who listened to others and was full of love.
"An erect phallus is a symbol of life, a cross a symbol of death."
Jean Daniel Cadinot, photographer and film-maker, passed away on the 23rd of April aged 64 following a heart attack.
After Cadinot's death, the company French Art is now being headed by François Orenn, a classically-trained pianist who started working for Jean-Daniel Cadinot as a score composer and who has managed the company from 2002. Two unfinished films by Cadinot, Subversion and Le Culte d'Eros, have since been released by him. Orenn has also begun directing films of his own in the typical Cadinot style (Anges et Démons and L'Avarice) and with Cadinot's technical crew.
Filmography
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