Jean-Jacques Annaud

Used to be banned from entering China because of his film Sept ans au Tibet (1997). But years later, he was hired to direct the Chinese-French co-production Le dernier loup (2015) and had his ban lifted.

Stalingrad (2001) is a film about duels and duality, about contrasts and extremes. The event is minuscule, but the propaganda makes it extremely important. Two individuals track each other in the midst of millions who are dying, but the focus is on these two. The smallest part is only one little piece of the large canvas, but it consequently becomes the central symbol of the whole.