PROFILE – Fabienne Hanclot is currently the director of Ardèche Images in Lussas. She is in French Polynesia for the first time and is a member of the FIFO 2026 jury.
Cheerful and dreamy, Fabienne Hanclot has a deep thirst for discovery. A perfectionist, she maintains a very strong connection with images. She was born and raised in a small town between industry and the sea, Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône. It was there, in the local cinema, that she discovered her passion for storytelling.
From that moment on, her world opened up to imagination. With images filling her mind, she dreamed of turning it into a career. After completing high school, she moved to England to study languages with a focus on cinema. Once her studies were finished, she headed to the United States to work. There, she held various jobs related to the world of images.
“My career has been linked to film distribution, both fiction and documentary. I love this world,” Fabienne explains. Her résumé is impressive. Former director of the French Film Festival of Athens for seven years, she later became the director of a cinema in the Paris region.
“This openness to the world taught me to understand other cultures, to take an interest in different perspectives and different stories. It is very enriching,” notes the FIFO 2026 jury member.
Fabienne continued her journey by becoming General Delegate of ACID (Association for the Distribution of Independent Cinema), “which is a parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival,” she specifies. She held this position for 13 years. She then went on to lead the department supporting diversity in creation at the CNC (National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image).
Since September 2024, she has been the director of Ardèche Images in Lussas.
It is a rich career she would not trade for anything. “Cinema opened me up to the world. It showed me that other worlds, other lives were possible. And there were people who passed that on to me—they were guides. I do not come from a family connected to this field at all. I fell into it by watching films and meeting people who shared the same passion. I feel that my whole life, just as it was done for me, I pass it on to others,” Fabienne says with a smile.
She continues: “What I love is the power of imagination. I love being able to offer other ways of imagining. I love a free imagination where we can share different cultures. It seems essential for us, and for our children.”
“Discovering other cultures”
Always in search of new stories, Fabienne is committed to passing the torch.
“At Ardèche Images, I make sure to give the students I supervise all the tools they need to be as free as possible and to find new forms of expression. My work is really about opening people up to imagination—to things they might not necessarily want to see or might not otherwise have access to. This is especially true in documentary filmmaking. We go to meet others and seek truth. That’s why we do this job. We are here to discover other cultures, other stories. We want to share all of that,” insists the mother of a 12-year-old son.
Imagination occupies all her thoughts, and she nurtures it through her many travels. She also loves music and dancing. “I lived for seven years in Greece, in Athens. I became very interested in traditional music and in how art is part of everyday life. I became very sensitive to art,” she explains.
An idealist, she hopes for a better world. “Our time is very difficult, very chaotic, and it gives even more meaning to our work. Today, despite all the screens, I feel there is a closing of imagination. There is an overwhelming kind of propaganda through powerful imagery. I feel that everything can close in, despite the omnipresence of screens,” says the director.
Committed and driven, Fabienne describes herself as “a bull charging forward.” Today, she is happy to be part of the FIFO jury. “I am eager to discover new cultures. I don’t know Oceania at all, and I look forward to discovering it through the festival. I believe in openness at all costs and in breaking away from preconceived ideas. I can’t wait to hear stories that we don’t hear or see in mainland France. I hope, if the films allow it, to be able to show them later in Ardèche,” concludes Fabienne Hanclot.
Credits: Jenny Hunter – FIFO Tahiti
Photography: Studio Marama – FIFO Tahiti
French