Jean-Xavier de Lestrade

Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, whose background is in journalism and law, skilfully employs dramatic narrative structure to examine themes relating to criminality, justice and societal taboos. “It’s not the facts that touch people, he says. “It’s how you recount the facts that makes a story universal.” Active since the late 1980s, he has directed over 15 films, including the Oscar-winning Murder on a Sunday Morning (2001) and The Staircase (2004). He emphasizes the need for humility when working with interview subjects: “In every human being, there is something intimate and insurmountable, a part that can only truly be known by the person him or herself. You must be humble enough to accept that.”

Selected Filmography

The Staircase (2004)
International Documentary Association — IDA Award
Peabody Award

Of Justice and Men (2001)
Prix Albert Londres

Murder on a Sunday Morning (2001)
Academy Award — Best Documentary Feature

A White and Pure Australia (1998)
Biaritz International — Festival Golden FIPA

Incest in Courtrooms (1995)

Innocents on the Run (1994)