Maud Baignères grew up between Tokyo, Paris and New York. From her childhood, travel, nature and people have been sources of inspiration for the films she directs. At the age of 20, she directed three short fiction films (Grand Prix du Jury at the Montpellier Festival, Selected in many festivals in France and abroad), the last of which: “Pour une fois s'attsamedi” with Sacha Bourdo and Brigitte de Villepoix, is broadcast on Canal +.

A collaboration with designer-designer Christoph Schwaiger followed. They form a duo called the “Kampai”. Together, they produce corporate films, credits and advertising campaigns for luxury brands in France and Germany. At the age of 30, she signed the original idea and the script for the feature film: "La Cloche a sonné" with François Cluzet and Fabrice Lucchini produced by Lazennec and TF1.

In Japan, for ten years she produced numerous reports for Tracks (Arte), Tentations (Canal +) and Pink (France 2). Very inspired by Nature, she imagines and produces films for museums such as "Mutations" at Decorative Arts. A series of nine videos for the mediation of an exhibition on contemporary French know-how, dialogue between designers, artists and craftsmen. She co-directed with Eric-Sébastien Faure Lagorce the documentary on design: “Design en Capitale” for the Stylia channel. For France 2, she signs portraits of artists and craftsmen for the weekly series: "In the workshop". She particularly likes to highlight artists, their world and their creative process. From 2008 to 2018, she produced monthly cultural reports for France 2 on exhibitions, festivals, concerts in France, Europe and around the world and portraits of artists such as Patti Smith, Yoko Ono, Joey Starr, Agnes Varda ...

In 2018, she co-directed with Arnaud Riou a documentary film in Mongolia on shamans: “Etugen”.

Today she works on "SEA ART", a sensory documentary series to educate a large public about the protection and safeguard of the Oceans through the prism of Art. Lover of nature, she films what touches her and what engages her. The episodes of the Sea Art series are portraits of artists from different fields such as contemporary art, dance, music, cinema, literature ... immerse us in their world and tell us how the oceans inspire them to create. They tell us about their own vision of ecology through their love of the oceans and their wildlife. As of today, there are already four episodes: Jason deCaires Taylor, Julie Gautier, Fabrice Hyber and Miquel Barcelò. The series is expanding internationally.

MAUD BAIGNÈRES

Art is never enough. The problem is now and it’s still not solved, but we don’t need to be scary or mean. You can engage people gently. Art, of course, is a way to get people engaged and to touch people.

This interview was conducted by Mia Funk with the participation of collaborating universities and students. Digital Media Coordinator is Hannah Story Brown.

Mia Funk is an artist, interviewer and founder of The Creative Process.