Sisavang Phoulivong (or Sisavangvong) (14 July 1885 – 29 October 1959), was king of Kingdom of Luang Phrabang and later Kingdom of Laos from 28 April 1904 until his death on 20 October 1959.

Early life[link]

Sisavang Vong on Laotian Postage Stamp (1951)

He was born at Luang Phrabang, on July 14, 1885. His father was Zakarine, King of Luang Phrabang and his mother was Queen Thongsy. He was educated at Lycée Chasseloup-Laubat, Saigon and l'École Coloniale, Paris. He was known as a "playboy" king. He had up to 50 children by as many as 15 wives, two of whom were his half sisters^[1] and one of whom was a niece. Fourteen of the children died in the Mekong after a boating accident.

His wives included:

• Princess Kamuni (1885–1915), daughter of Prince Ko and Princess Duangbadani
• Khamphane (1896–1983), his half sister by his father's wife Mom La; they had no children
• Khamla, a commoner
• Khamboua, a commoner
• Khamtip, a commoner
• Princess Khamtouan of Luang Prabang, his half sister (one son)
• Princess Kamaduni of the Vang Hnaxxs family
• Mom Khamphoui, a commoner
• Princess Indrakama, a daughter of Prince Jayasena, Prince Sri Dibudinha and his wife, Pong
• Princess Kamuni
• Princess Khamphoui, the daughter of his half-brother
• Chansy (1900–1984), a commoner

King of Laos[link]

He succeeded his father as King of Luang Prabang after the death of his father, 25 March 1904. Luang Phrabang was then a French protectorate within French Indochina. He ascended the throne, at the old Royal Palace, Luang Prabang, 15 April 1904, and was crowned there, 4 March 1905. During the early years of his reign, the French built a modern palace for him, the Royal Palace of Luang Prabang for his use of residence. Under his kingdom he had united provinces Houaphan, 1931; Houakhong; Xiengkhouang and Vientiane, 1942; Champassak and Sayboury, 1946.

He was a lifelong supporter of French rule in Laos, and in 1945 he refused to cooperate with Lao nationalists and he was deposed when the Lao Issara declared the country independent. In April 1946, the French took over once again and he was reinstated as king (the first time a Lao monarch actually ruled all of what is today called Laos).

Statue of Sisavang Vong, King of Luang Phrabāng 1904-46, King of Laos 1946–59 (Grounds of the Royal Palace Museum, Luang Phrabāng)

In 1954 he celebrated his Golden Jubilee, becoming the longest-reigning king in Asia until King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who surpassed his reign in 2001.

When he became ill, he made his son Crown Prince Savang Vatthana regent. His son succeeded him on his death in 1959.^[2] He was cremated and buried in That Luang in 1961, and during his funeral procession was transported by the royal funeral carriage, a 12-meter-high wooden hearse with a carved seven-headed serpent. Many representatives were at the state funeral including Prince Bhanubandhu, who represented Thailand.

Sisavangvong University was named in his honor, but was abolished in 1975 when the communists took power in Laos.

Because he presided over independence from the French Union, statues of him survived the communist revolution and remain in Luang Prabang and Vientiane. Both statues depict him in the act of bestowing a constitution upon the people.

Honours[link]

• Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia – 1905
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Dragon of Annam – 1905
• Decoration of the Golden Gong, 1st Class of Annam
• Grand Cross of the Legion d'Honneur of France – 1927 (Commander – 1905)
• Grand Officer of the Order of the Black Star of Benin of France – 1935
• Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Belgium – 1935
• Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters of France – 1949
• Croix de Guerre with Palm of France – 1949
• Knight of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri of Thailand – 1955
• Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit of Vietnam – 1955

See also[link]

• Monarchs of Laos

References[link]

v t e Heads of state of Laos Kingdom of Laos Kings (1949–1975) Sisavang Vong · Sisavang Vatthana Lao People's Democratic Republic Presidents (1975–) Souphanouvong · Phoumi Vongvichit* · Kaysone Phomvihane · Nouhak Phoumsavanh · Khamtai Siphandon · Choummaly Sayasone * acting for Souphanouvong

Jean-Georges Vongerichten
Born	(1957-03-16) March 16, 1957 (age 55).[1] Alsace, France
Cooking style	Contemporary French cuisine, Thai-inspired French fusion cuisine, American Nouvelle cuisine
Education	Culinary school in Perpignan, France
Current restaurant(s) JoJo, Vong, Jean Georges, Mercer Kitchen, Spice Market, Perry Street, Matsugen (New York City), Prime (Las Vegas), Jean Georges Steakhouse (Las Vegas), Vong's Thai Kitchen (Chicago), Chambers Kitchen (Minneapolis), Market (Paris and Boston), Cafe Martinique, Dune (Bahamas), V, Rama (London), Jean-Georges (Shanghai), Lagoon (Bora Bora)
Official website
jean-georges.com

Jean-Georges Vongerichten (English pronunciation: /ˌʒɑ̃ː ˌʒɔrʒ vɒn.ɡəˈrɪxtən/) is a French chef.^[2] He was born in Alsace, France, March 16, 1957, and resides in New York City.^[1] Vongerichten commands restaurants in culinary capitals Las Vegas, London, Paris and Shanghai, as well as New York's Jean Georges restaurant.^[3] He is author of five cookbooks, two with Mark Bittman.

Early life[link]

Born and raised on the outskirts of Strasbourg in Alsace, France, Vongerichten’s earliest family memories are about food. The Vongerichten home centered around the kitchen, where each day his mother and grandmother would prepare lunch for the almost 50 employees in their family-owned business. His love for food cemented his choice of career at the age of 16, when his parents brought him to the 3-star Michelin-rated Auberge de l’ill for a birthday dinner.^[4]

Culinary education[link]

Vongerichten began his training soon after in a work-study program at the Auberge de l'ill as an apprentice to Chef Paul Haeberlin. He went on to work with the top chefs in France, including Paul Bocuse and Louis Outhier at L’Oasis in the south of France. Often working with Outhier, Vongerichten opened 10 restaurants around the world from 1980 to 1985, including the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, the Meridien Hotel in Singapore, and the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong.^[4]

Relocation to America[link]

Jean-Georges Vongerichten at his flagship restaurant Jean-Georges.

Vongerichten arrived in the United States in 1985 under the auspices of consulting chef Louis Outhier, opening the Le Marquis de Lafayette restaurant in Boston. A year later he arrived in New York to take over the executive Chef position at Lafayette in the Drake Swissôtel, generating critical acclaim with his innovative interpretation of classic French cuisine and earning four stars from The New York Times at the age of 29. There he met financier Phil Suarez, a loyal dining patron.^[5] Vongerichten and Suarez opened a bistro, JoJo, in 1991. JoJo was named Best New Restaurant of the Year, and earned three stars from The New York Times, in which Food critic Ruth Reichl claimed: "His food took my breath away".

Vong

His next venture, Vong, paid homage to his passion for the spices and flavors of the East. Using over 150 different herbs and spices to create his take on Thai-inspired French cuisine, the menu at Vong impressed critics, earning another three-star review from The New York Times for his "explosive flavorful food". In an adjacent space to Vong, Vongerichten also opened The Lipstick Cafe, catering to the midtown business crowd and serving breakfast and lunch in a casual, upscale setting. The Lipstick Cafe has since closed. In November 2009 it was revealed that Vong was closing at its longtime location indefinitely after it decided not to renew the lease.^[6]

Trump Tower location

In March 1997, Vongerichten opened Jean Georges restaurant in the Trump International Hotel and Tower, earning a four star review from The New York Times less than three months after opening, and the "Chef of the Year Award" from John Mariani at Esquire. Jean Georges Restaurant remains one of five restaurants in the city awarded three stars by the Michelin Guide.

Frank Bruni of The Times said it offers “accessible elegance,” providing “classic French indulgence with a contemporary flair.” The restaurant trades “the richness of traditional French cooking for a different kind of intensity,” he added – it eliminates “thick sauces and embraces oils and broths, preferring them for their lightness and for the way they release their scents, like the perfume of lemon grass that rose from a bath of Asian herbs and seeds around a delicately baked lobster tartine.”^[7]

Other Vong locations

A year and a half later, Vongerichten opened a second Vong in the Knightsbridge area of London, earning a three-star review and the 1996 vote for the Evening Standard's "Newcomer of the Year". In September 1997, he opened Vong in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong, which Robb Report awarded "Best Restaurant in the World" award in 1998. A fourth Vong in Chicago, partnering with restaurant corporation Lettuce Entertain You and Geoff Alexander to become VTK (Vong's Thai Kitchen) in 2002. This change was to make the signature Jean-George style available to a wider audience at a more accessible price point. All three additional Vongs, including VTK, have since closed.

Vongerichten followed with The Mercer Kitchen, opened in July 1998, in the stylish Mercer Hotel in SoHo. This venture features an American-Provincial menu and ‘communal’ style tables in the open kitchen area. Another addition is the Prime Steakhouse in Steve Wynn’s Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, which opened in October 1998.

Vongerichten opened Spice Market (Southeast Asian street food) in 2004 and Perry Street in 2005 (French-American) in NYC, as well as the Chambers Kitchen in Minneapolis^[8] in 2007.

In 2008 Jean Georges teamed up with the Matsushita Brothers from Tokyo to open Matsugen. Matsugen's cuisine focuses on Japanese Soba dishes, but also served sushi and other items including shabu-shabu and sukiyaki.

His latest projects for 2009 include Jean-Georges at Aria in Las Vegas, a restaurant in the Mark Hotel in NYC, a Market and Spice Market in the W Hotel in Doha and a J&G Steakhouse in Scottsdale, Arizona and Washington, D.C.. J&G Steakhouse opened opposite the White House in the W Hotel in 2009.^[9]

Starwood Hotels

Vongerichten and partner Phil Suarez have formed a new company with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Catterton Partners, a consumer-focused private-equity firm which will own, operate, manage and license restaurants in Starwood properties as well as freestanding concepts not attached to the hotel giant's lodging outlets. The deal calls for seven Spice Markets and other concepts world wide. The total number of eating destinations could total 56 with this contract. The first to open were two Spice Markets at the W Hotel in both Atlanta and Istanbul, respectively.

J&G Steakhouse (Scottsdale)

Vongerichten opened his newest steakhouse in December 2008 atop The Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Described as a "sleek, sexy, glamorous restaurant,^[10] floor to ceiling windows frame the dramatic views of the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. With fare consisting of steaks and seafood, the restaurant has received 4 stars from the Arizona Republic^[11] and is regarded as one of the top 3 steakhouses in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.^[12]

Hotel Shangri-La

Vongerichten opened a restaurant at the Hotel Shangri-La Vancouver, a luxury hotel that Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts opened in 2009. “Market by Jean-Georges” is the first collaboration between Shangri-La and Vongerichten and is the famous chef's first involvement with Canadian or west coast dining.^[13]

Jean-Georges Steakhouse

Vongerichten opened a namesake restaurant inside Aria,^[14] one of the first properties to open in the newly-built CityCenter on the Las Vegas Strip. The restaurant features fine steaks served on hot lava rocks as well as sustainable and organic ingredients.^[15]

Market (Boston)

In November 2009 Vongerichten opened 'Market' in Boston's new W Hotel, inspired by the casual, simple elegance of the setting, Jean-Georges has created a relaxed menu that emphasizes fresh, locally produced ingredients. Emphasizing comfort and creativity, the menu reinvents classic dishes with eclectic flair, allowing guests to try new flavor combinations and explore spices from other regions, all while remaining close to home. Dishes crafted with seasonal market ingredients and local fish, can be selected from enticing categories on the menu such as Simply Raw, Fish, Meat and a Market tasting menu to enliven the senses and satisfy any craving.

Lawsuit[link]

In September 2008, Vongerichten agreed to settle a lawsuit for $2.2 million filed by staff who claimed tips from several of his restaurants had been redirected to managers.^[16]

Influence[link]

New York wrote that in the past two decades, no single chef has had more influence on the way New Yorkers dine out—or on the way other chefs cook and other restaurants look. “He invented America’s answer to nouvelle cuisine,” says Mario Batali. “When I first came to New York, his book Simple Cuisine was the holy grail for young chefs, and JoJo was the hottest ticket in town.”^[17]

Vongerichten claims to have invented molten chocolate cake in New York City in 1987, but the French chef and chocolatier Jacques Torres has disputed that, arguing that such a dish already existed in France. According to Vongerichten, he pulled a chocolate sponge cake from the oven before it was done and found that the center was still runny, but was warm and had both a good taste and a good texture.

In June 2009, Vongerichten catered a dinner party at the home of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Guests included New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and former President Bill Clinton.^[18]

Family[link]

Jean-Georges is married to a Korean American/African-American actress and model, Marja Vongerichten (née Marja Dominique Allen; born 1976).^[19] With Marja, he has a young daughter named Chloe. He also has two adult children, Cedric (who is also a chef) and Louise, from his first marriage.^[1]

Books[link]

• Home Cooking with Jean-Georges (co-authored with Genevieve Ko) (November 2011), ISBN 978-0-307-71795-5
• Asian Flavorings of Jean-Georges (October 2007), ISBN 978-0-7679-1273-0
• Simple to Spectacular (co-authored with Mark Bittman) (October 2000), ISBN 978-0-7679-0360-8
• Jean-Georges: Cooking At Home with a Four-Star Chef (co-authored with Mark Bittman) (September 1998), ISBN 978-0-7679-0155-0
• Simple Cuisine: The Easy, New Approach to Four-Star Cooking (1991), ISBN 978-0-13-195059-7

Television[link]

In 2011, Vongerichten and his wife Marja debuted a PBS television series, Kimchi Chronicles, a travel and cooking show set in South Korea and New York City.^[20]

See also[link]

• French cuisine
• Thai cuisine

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official blog
• Facebook
• Biography at Starchefs
• Jean-Georges Vongerichten on Charlie Rose
• Jean-Georges Vongerichten at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Jean-Georges Vongerichten in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Jean-Georges Vongerichten collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Jean-Georges's Asian Fusion Cuisine

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2012)

Pierre Schoendoerffer
Pierre Schoendoerffer at the Cinémathèque Française
Born	Pierre Schœndœrffer (1928-05-05)5 May 1928 Chamalières, Puy-de-Dôme, France
Died	14 March 2012(2012-03-14) (aged 83) Clamart, Hauts-de-Seine
Spouse	Patricia Schoendoerffer (1958–2012)

Pierre Schoendoerffer (French: Pierre Schœndœrffer; 5 May 1928 – 14 March 2012) was a French film director, a screenwriter, a writer, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War veteran, a cinema academician. He was president of the Académie des Beaux-Arts for 2001 and for 2007.^[1]

In 1967, he was the winner of the Academy Award for Documentary Feature for The Anderson Platoon. The film followed a platoon of American soldiers for six weeks at the height of fighting in Vietnam during 1966.

Biography[link]

Family[link]

Pierre Schoendoerffer was born in Chamalières of a French Alsatian Protestant family. As Alsace was a territory contested and annexed in the 17th, 19th and 20th centuries by both France and Germany leading to the Franco-Prussian War (1870) next World War I (1914–18), his forefathers chose to remain French, even though they lost all their belongings.

His maternal grandfather, who was a 1870 veteran, volunteered in the French Army in 1914 at the age of 66 and the rank of Captain. He was killed during the Second Battle of the Aisne at Chemin des Dames. His father was the director of the Annecy hospital and died shortly after the end of the battle of France (1940) where he was injured.^[2]

He met his wife Patricia in Morocco (then a Spanish-French joint protectorate), she was a journalist for France-Soir. They had three children, actor and screenwriter Frédéric Schoendoerffer, director and producer Ludovic Schoendoerffer and actress Amélie Schoendoerffer.

Pierre Schoendoerffer died on 14 March 2012 in France. He was 83.

Early life (1942–1947)[link]

During World War II, Schoendoerffer lost his father and was not doing well with his studies at Annecy's school. In winter 1942–1943, he read Joseph Kessel's epic adventure novel Fortune Carrée (1932) who changed his mind, he wanted to become a mariner and travel the world^[3]

In 1946, he spent his summer job as a fisherman aboard a small fishing trawler in the Bourgneuf-en-Retz bay, near Pornic, Pays de la Loire (close to Brittany). From this experience he would later direct Than the Fisher shot in Vietnam, and Iceland Fisherman.

The following year he went back to the Pays de la Loire region and embarked a Swedish cargo ship at Boulogne.

From mariner to war cameraman (1947–54)[link]

In 1947, on board the merchant navy coaster, he sailed for two years in the Baltic Sea and North Sea. This sailor experience would later find echoes in Seven Days at Sea, The Drummer-Crab and even in Above the Clouds.

From 1949 to 1950 he left the navy to fulfill the mandatory military service in the Alpine infantry's 13e Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins ("13th Alpine Chasers Battalion", 13e BCA) based in Chambéry and Modane, Rhône-Alpes. The Alpine infantry would later become the title character's corps in The Honor of a Captain.

Young Schoendoerffer had realized he was not born to be a mariner, but he did not want to be a soldier either, thinking he would be wasting his time. What he wanted to do was filmmaking. As he failed to enter the television and cinema industries, he began photography instead. One day as he read a Le Figaro article about KIA war cameraman Georges Kowal during the First Indochina War, he decide to try his luck in the Service Cinématographique des Armées ("Armies' Cinematographic Service", SCA, now ECPAD).

Thus in late 1951, he volunteered to become a war cameraman for the French army and was sent to Saigon, in French Indochina. There Corporal Schoendoerffer met and befriended with Service Presse Information ("Information Press Service", SPI) war photograph Sergeant-Chief Jean Péraud, who took him as his protégé.

Schoendoerffer's first SCA production was a 9-minute short documentary First Indochina War Rushes (1952) that would surface thirty years later on screen in The Honor of a Captain.

In 1954, his friend and superior Sergeant-Chief Péraud asked him by telegram to join him at the battle of Dien Bien Phu and he dropped with the 5th Vietnamese Parachutist Battalion (5e BPVN aka 5e BAWOUAN). As a result, upranked Corporal-Chief Schoendoerffer "celebrated" his 26th birthday in the midst of the 57 days siege. He filmed the entire battle for the SCA but after the French ceasefire and the defeat, just as the other soldiers destroyed their equipment so it would not be captured by the Viet Minh, Schoendoerffer destroyed his films and camera. This event was later depicted on screen by his own son, Frédéric, in Pierre Schoendoerffer's 1992 docudrama Dien Bien Phu recreating the battle.

By the end of the battle in 1954, he saved and secretly hid six SCA 1-minute reels which ended in Roman Karmen's hands.^[4]

From prisoner of war to war correspondent (1954–56)[link]

After the battle, on 7 May 1954, he was captured and sent to a Viet Minh reeducation camp. During the march to the camp, following Jean Péraud, he tried to escape with paratroopers commander Marcel Bigeard, but he was caught. Péraud vanished though and has since been Missing in action.

In prison, his life was spared in the insistence of Roman Karmen, the Soviet propagandist who directed all the worldwide famous sequences illustrating the battle, from the Viet Minh raising the Red flag over General de Castries's bunker staged a few weeks after the siege, to the French Union POWs column marching from Dien Bien Phu to the re-education camp (a crane was used for the shooting), that are featured in Вьетнам ("Vietnam", 1955). During his jail time, Karmen had some friendly meetings with Schoendoerffer, they spoke about their job, and he revealed to the French prisoner he had found his reels and had watched them. Karmen kept the reels though, as a result the only footage covering the battle is from the Viet Minh's perspective. His own work has been watched all around the world and has even been used in the western media. As an example, Peter Batty's 1980 The Battle for Den Bien Phu documentary is largely based on the footage from Vietnam.

Schoendoerffer was released by the Viet Minh four months later on 1 September 1954. On the battle's tenth anniversary, in Paris, Schoendoerffer was invited with Bigeard to comment on the Viet Minh footage, including segments from Vietnam, which were broadcast on the French public channel ORTF (Cinq colonnes à la une show) for the first time.^[5]

After the First Indochina War Schoendoerffer left the French army and became a war reporter-photograph in South Vietnam for French and American news magazines: Paris Match, Paris-Presse, Time, Life, Look.

In April 1955 he left South Vietnam to return to France, stopping off along the way in Hong Kong, Taipei, Japan, Hawaii and San Francisco.

In Hong Kong, through the AFP news agency he met Joseph Kessel, the adventurer, famous Free French, World War I and World War II aviator, war correspondent, reporter, and novelist he admired in his childhood for Fortune Carrée. During a quick friendly relationship, Schoendoerffer narrated his three years adventure in Indochina to Kessel who was impressed. Soon they broke up promising to keep in touch.

In Hollywood Schoendoerffer became an apprentice on a movie for ten days thanks to his connections with Life magazine, but without a Green Card he was eventually forced to leave.

Back in France he signed his first important contract with Pathé Journal and two weeks later he flew to Morocco where the French Algeria anticolonial rebellion was emulated. He became a war correspondent filming the riots for the French audience, Morocco was then a French protectorate. There he met Patricia, a journalist at France Soir, who later became his wife.

In 1956, he resigned from Pathé, whose representative threatened him: "You are leaving us? So you'll never do cinema again, because we are huge!".

Writer and director (1956–2003)[link]

At this point Schoendoerffer was confused with his young career, the major Pathé bringing him back to the situation he experienced in 1951. As he narrated his Hong Kong meeting with Kessel to his fiancée Patricia, she convinced him to contact the one he regarded as an "historic monument".^[6]

Kessel was actually searching for him since he had a film project in Afghanistan, The Devil's Pass, he wanted Schoendoerffer to direct it. Kessel wrote the script, Raoul Coutard, a First Indochina War photograph (SPI) veteran was in charge of the cinematography on his first film (later he would join Jean-Luc Godard), Jacques Dupont assisted Schoendoerffer with the direction and Georges de Beauregard produced it.

In 1958, he married "Pat", Patricia, the journalist he met in Morocco in 1955.

In 1959, Pierre Lazareff, founder of Patricia Schoendoerffer and Joseph Kessel newspaper France Soir, asked him to direct a reportage about the Algerian War for his Cinq colonnes à la une (ORTF) TV show. Thanks to Lazareff he later returned to Vietnam in 1966 and made his acclaimed The Anderson Platoon for the ORTF.

Later in 1991 he came back to Dien Bien Phu and recreate the battle in a self-titled epic docudrama — in the fashion of Tora! Tora! Tora! — in which his son Frédéric played his own role as cameraman. The actual Vietnamese army was used to play the role of both the Viet Minh and the State of Vietnam national army fighting in the French side against the Communists. Meanwhile, the French 11th Parachute Division played the role of the French Union paratroopers.

In the 2000s (decade), his latest productions consist of the 2003 novel The Butterfly Wing (L'Aile du Papillon) and Above the Clouds (Là-Haut, un roi au-dessus des nuages), the theatrical adaptation of his 1981 novel Up there (Là-Haut).

Reception[link]

Critical success[link]

Pierre Schoendoerffer received acclaim in international short and feature film festivals. As a writer he won multiple festival, academy and military awards and prizes, including the Prix Vauban, in 1984, (celebrating his life achievement.)

In France he is famous for his 1973 three-time César Award-winning Le Crabe-Tambour ("Drummer Crab"), based on his French Academy-award–winning self-titled novel. His first success was in 1965 with his Cannes Film Festival Best Screenplay winning The 317th Platoon (La 317e Section). Both films are based on his experience in the First Indochina War.

He is most known abroad, particularly in the United States, for his 1967 Oscar-winning Vietnam War B&W documentary, The Anderson Platoon (La Section Anderson), originally made for the French public channel ORTF's popular Cinq colonnes à la une monthly show. It earned him an Oscar, an International Emmy Award, a Red Ribbon Award at the New York Film Festival, a BBC's Merit Award and an Italia Prize.

Awards[link]

Croix de Guerre TOE

Military honors

• Médaille militaire
• Croix de Guerre TOE
• Croix du Combattant volontaire

Academic honors

• Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur
• Officier de l'Ordre National du Mérite
• Officier des Arts et Lettres
• Chevalier des Palmes Académiques

Artistic prizes

• 1965: Cannes Film Festival Best Screenplay The 317th Platoon
• 1967: Academy Award for Documentary Feature (Oscars): The Anderson Platoon
• 1967: Prix Italia: The Anderson Platoon
• 1967: Merit Award (BBC): The Anderson Platoon
• 1969: Prix Interallié: Farewell to the King

Fine Arts Academy[link]

Pierre Schoendoerffer was elected at the Académie des Beaux-Arts' Section VII: Artistic creation in the cinema and the audio-visual field, Seat#4, on 23 March 1988, replacing Guillaume Gillet.

He is president of the Académie des Beaux-Arts since 2001.

Filmography[link]

Feature films[link]

• 1958: Ramuntcho (Ramuncho) based on the 1897 novel by Pierre Loti
• 1959: Pêcheur d'Islande (Iceland Fisherman) — based on the 1886 novel by Pierre Loti
• 1965: The 317th Platoon (La 317e section) — based on his 1953 novel
• 1966: Objectif 500 millions (Objective 500 Million)
• 1977: Le Crabe-tambour (The Drummer Crab) — based on his 1976 novel
• 1982: A Captain's Honor (L'Honneur d'un Capitaine)
• 1992: Diên Biên Phu (Dien Bien Phu)
• 2004: Above the Clouds (Là-haut, un roi au-dessus des nuages) — based on his 1981 novel

Feature documentaries[link]

• 1956: La Passe du diable (The Devil's Pass) — co-directed with Jacques Dupont, written by Joseph Kessel
• 1967: The Anderson Platoon (La Section Anderson) — Cinq colonnes à la une TV show
• 1976: La Sentinelle du matin (The Morning Sentinel)
• 1975: Al-Maghrib al-Aqsa (Morocco)
• 1986: Le Défi (The Challenge)
• 1989: Réminiscences (Reminiscences) — sequel of The Anderson Platoon

Short films[link]

• 1958: Than, le Pêcheur (Than: The Fisherman)

Short documentaries[link]

• 1952: Épreuves de Tournage de la Guerre d'Indochine (First Indochina War Rushes) — segments are featured in L'Honneur d'un Capitaine (1982) and in two battle of Dien Bien Phu documentaries by Peter Hercombe (2004) and Patrick Jeudy (2005)
• 1959: L'Algérie des combats (Algeria That Fights) — Cinq colonnes à la une TV show
• 1963: Attention Hélicoptère (Warning Helicopter)
• 1973: Sept Jours en mer (Seven Days at Sea)

Bibliography[link]

Novels[link]

• 1963: La 317e Section (The 317th Platoon) — adapted on screen in 1965 by himself
• 1969: Farewell to the King (L'Adieu au Roi) — adapted on screen in 1989 by John Milius
• 1976: The Paths of the Sea (Le Crabe-tambour) — winner of Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française - adapted on screen in 1977 by himself
• 1981: Là-haut (Upthere) — adapted on screen in 2003 by himself
• 2003: L'Aile du papillon (The Butterfly Wing)

Essays[link]

• 1994: Diên Biên Phu, 1954/1992 De la Bataille au Film (Dien Bien Phu: 1954–1992 From the battle to the movie) — based on his 1992 movie

Inspirations and influence[link]

His inspirations[link]

Schoendoerffer was primarily influenced by epic adventure novels, notably Joseph Kessel's Fortune Carrée (1932). Kessel wrote The Devil's Pass (1956) he co-directed with Jacques Dupont. In the late 1950s, he adapted on screen two Pierre Loti novels, first Iceland Fisherman (1886) then Ramuncho (1897). Following his 1992 motion picture Dien Bien Phu, Schoendoerffer spent three years working on the screen adaptation of his favourite writer Joseph Conrad's Typhoon (1902).^[7] The script was ready and the filmmaker started location spotting for shooting but the producer didn’t find enough money to cover the high production budget and so the project was eventually cancelled.^[8]

Young Schoendoerffer was also inspired by Hollywood movies he watched instead of going to high school class. In The 317th Platoon, there's a running reference to Michael Curtiz' Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) historical movie. In 2004, a L'Express journalist asked Schoendoerffer his favourite movie: Akira Kurosawa's Ran (1985).^[7]

Military photograph Jean Péraud was a "big brother" for him — he was three years younger — and "the most important person he met in Indochina" as well as an inspiring character model.^[9]

His own experience as a mariner, a Vietnam veteran and a globetrotter is a strong inspiration in most of his works. This is obvious in the Drummer-Crab, but the most autobiographical work is Dien Bien Phu (1992), where his elder son Frédéric impersonates him.

His influence[link]

French actress Aurore Clément seen in the Drummer-Crub plays a role in Apocalypse Now's French plantation chapters connecting the Vietnam war with the French experience in the First Indochina War.

During the production of Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986), Stone, who was also a Vietnam veteran forced his cast and crew to live like an actual platoon in the jungle, it was the very same technique used by Schoendoerffer twenty one years earlier in The 317th Platoon.

Film on Pierre Schoendoerffer[link]

Produced in 2011, Pierre Schoendoerffer, the Sentinel of Memory is the first feature documentary about him. Directed by Raphaël Millet, it is a co-production between Nocturnes Productions and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA, the French National Institute for Audiovisual). In it, Pierre Schoendoerffer revisits his life and career, with a strong focus on the impact that his experience as a war cinematographer for the French army during the Indochina War had on him.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Pierre Schoendoerffer at the Internet Movie Database
• International Herald Tribune obituary dated March 14, 2012
• The Daily Telegraph obituary dated March 14, 2012
• (French) Complete biography from the Académie des Beaux-Arts
• (French) A short biography
• (French) Dien Bien Phu: a portrait signed Schoendoerffer, French public channel France 3, News 12h/14h, May 5, 2004

The Lao Song (Thai: ลาวโซ่ง [laːsoːŋ]^{[missing tone]}) are an ethnic group of Thailand. The Lao Song are also known as the Tai Song (ไทโซ่ง), Lao Song Dam (ลาวโซ่งดำ) or simply as the Song or Song Dam.

History[link]

The Lao Song are descendants of Lao peoples from the areas of Tonkin and areas east of Luang Prabang when they were forcibly removed to the areas of Central Thailand today as slaves and corvée labourers during Siamese annexation during the 18th and 19th centuries. Most were members of the Tai Dam ethnic group (counted by the Chinese government as members of the Dai ethnic group) and the traditional dress, language, and culture is remarkable as a preservation of Tai Dam culture in the heart of Central Thailand and Thaification policies. The Lao Song were used as guards for the royal courts and to help control the powerful Chinese minority, which explains their widespread distribution.

Geographic Distribution[link]

There are approximately 34,000 Lao Song spread out over Central Thailand, including Phetchabun, Phitsanulok, Nakhon Sawan, Ratchaburi, Suphan Buri, Kanchanaburi, Chumphon and Nakhon Pathom Provinces.

Religion[link]

Although originally they believed in animism, most Lao Song are now Theravada Buddhists, but this often co-exists with the older religion.

Economy[link]

• Crop farming
• Handirafts

References[link]

• Lao Song Crafts
• Hattaway, Paul. (2004). Peoples of the Buddhist World: A Christian Prayer Guide. Pasadena: William Carey Library.
• Zhu, Liangwen (1992). The Dai: Or the Tai and Their Architecture & Customs in South China. Bangkok, Thailand, and Kunming, Yunnan, China: D D Books and The Science and Technology Press of Yunnan.