Jacques Navarro-Rovira – Let Us Dance
Born in 1950, he is sensitised very early with photography and the cinematography by a grandfather photographer and enlightened amateur cinematographer (in 9,5 mm), close friend of the Lumière brothers. He makes determining meetings at the time of his studies in the E.S.S.E.C high school(High School of Economic and Commercial Sciences), during which he shoots several short feature films with those who will be his future associates in “Les Films du Sabre”, a production company that he creates with them in 1973, even before his graduation.
After a first stay of 16 months in Tahiti under the military service, like V.A.T (Voluntary with the Technical assistance) teacher in adult formation for management, during which his Polynesian “part” is forged, he returns to Paris and actively takes share with the development of the “Sabre”. With responsibilities within management as on shootings where he occupies a successively number of functions of assistant director, of manager, director of production, in particular at the time of the beginning of the Sabre in feature film with the production of ten short feature films (Arthur Joffé, Jean Jacques Beneix, Stephan Kurc, Takis Candilis, Quentin Raspail, Armand Bernardi, George Campana, etc…), as well as the long feature film of Stephan Kurc: “the Eye of the Master”, he develops a very general-purpose practice of this profession.
At the very beginning of the Eighties, thanks to the development of corporate film, and by taste of the ground, he writes, films and directs an about sixty corporate films for the majority of the French large companies or public services, of which several will be awarded in the Biarritz Corporate Film Festivals.
About the middle of the Eighties the call of the sea will come from… Tahiti! from where he receives the proposal to develop the very new Institute of the Audio-visual Communication of French Polynesia (ICA). It will be for him the opportunity to know this country in depth and especially through the very numerous documentary shootings that he will make in all the archipelagos: the Society Islands, the Marquesas Islands, Austral Islands, Tuamotu, Gambier. It will also be the discovery of the other Polynesian, Micronesian and Melanesian cultures during the 4th Festival of the Arts of the Pacific, that takes place in Tahiti in 1985 and during which he will shoot more than 70 hours of rushes, of which he will make the Festival’s official film as well as a documentary collection on the music and the dances of the Pacific. The majority of these films will be broadcasted on RFO Tele Polynesia.
Temporary end of the voyage to the islands of the large ocean in 88, the call of the sea coming this time from Paris and more precisely from the Sabre, which requires of him to develop the technical branch service of the “Sabre group”, which counts in 1994 80 people and produces hundreds of hours of programs, as well as documentary ones, as films or TV feature films, magazines, or programs of flow, for a 40 million euros of income.
For this period, Jacques Navarro-Rovira will work narrowly with Serge Gainsbourg (clip “Lemon Incest”, last show in the Zenith), Jane Birkin (show in Bataclan), Thierry Ardisson (program “black Glasses for sleepless nights”), Frederique Miterrand and Jean-Christophe Victor (program “the lower part of the charts” for Arte).
At the time of the entry of the Expand group, via Canal Plus, in the Sabre group about the middle of the Nineties, he decides to take the… broad one, once more; the work of ground in more restricted team being more favourable to him than the large machines of war, as well as an attraction more marked for “the artistic one” than for the strategy of production. He thus goes back… to Tahiti, where he positions quickly as director and programs conceptor, in particular for RFO TV then TNTV.
Since then, he conceives, produces and directs several programs for these broadcasters by the means of “BEAU GESTE”, his production company, in particular “Motamo” daily of 5′ for children about the vocabulary, “Aïto Kultur” a monthly magazine of 45′ “for connected people”, “Anapa” daily of 5′ on the gestural in the fields of dance, handicraft and tattooing, on RFO or “Knews”, weekly news magazine of 15′ and “Fool Option”, Talk show “people” shifted 1h30 in public on TNTV.
Having his own professional equipment for shooting and editing in HD, he produces and directs also documentaries (“Ia Orana Gauguin, photography of a come back” 52′, official selection of the FIFO 2006 (Oceanian Documentary Film Festival) “Parry/Papeete 1932” 26′ with the Museum of Tahiti and the Islands, “Horo’a, the Gift” 26′, grand award of the jury of the FIFO 2008, produced by Kultur Prod, “My Marquesian brother” 52′, audience award FIFO 2009, produced by Bleu Lagoon productions, « Fa’aheimoe, ou l’Encre et le Geste » 52’, unofficial selection FIFO 2010, produced by Beau Geste, “Makatea, the Omission”, 52’, official selection of the FIFO 2011 produced by Bleu Lagoon productions, “Kings of heart”, 52’, unofficial selection FIFO 2011 produced by Bleu Lagoon productions, “Mamao Blues”, 52mn, official selection of the FIFO 2012 produced by Beau Geste, “Priest Laval, a mangarevian paradox”, 52mn, unofficial selection FIFO 2013, produced by Bleu Lagon, “The Archipelago Brigade”, 52mn, produced by Beau Geste, special award of the Jury FIFO 2014, selection Islander Film Festival of island of Groix 2013, selection Rochefort Film Festival 2014, selection Suva Film Festival (Fidji) 2014, selection Hawaiian Film Festival 2014, « Aux Armes Tahitiens » (2015) 90mn, produced by Bleu Lagon and Polynésie 1ère. official selection of the FIFO 2016, selection Rochefort Film Festival 2016. “Let us Dance”, 56mn, produced by Beau Geste, Oceania Film and Polynésie 1ère, audience award FIFO 2017, selection Rochefort Film Festival 2014, selection Together 2017 Disability Film Festival in London, Merit Award Accolade Festival 2018 of La Jolla (USA), Merit Award Impact Doc Film Festival 2018 of Los Angeles (USA)., “Pouvana’a ni Haine ni Rancune” (2017) 56mn, produced by Bleu Lagon Productions and France Ô, special award of the Jury FIFO 2018, as well as short feature films (“Antirock” 25′ with pupils of the Gauguin College of Papeete, “Maohi Touch” 5′ with trainees of the IUFM, “the Way of Damas” 10′ with students of the ISEPP University, “The After”, 10′ with students of the ISEPP University, “After the Rain”, 12′ with students of the ISEPP University and intervenes as executive producer and director for other producers or broadcasters of French Polynesia.
Lastly, parallel to its responsibilities for Founder member of the ATPA (Tahitian Association of the Professionals of Audio-visual), he exempts two courses of audio-visual production and directing at the University and animates audio-visual workshops at the IUFM, like at the House of the Culture, in particular near groups of young people of underprivileged districts.