Ange Casta, a French author and television director, was born on September 2, 1927, in Marseille, and passed away on October 13, 2020, in Le Plessis-Robinson.
Born into a Corsican family, Ange Casta spent his childhood in Aix-en-Provence. During his university studies in literature, he discovered theater and had his first experience in directing. In 1949, he was admitted to the IDHEC (Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques). Starting his career as an assistant to Jacques Becker and Raymond Rouleau, he directed a short film, “Autour de Casque d’Or” (INA), during the filming of the movie. He later directed a medium-length cinema film (35mm) titled “Orly le monde.”
Ange Casta commenced his career at RTF (later ORTF) in 1952 and became a director in 1955. He belonged to the first generation of directors that included Stellio Lorenzi, Marcel Bluwal, Claude Santelli, Jean Prat, Jean-Pierre Marchand, Hubert Knapp, Jean-Claude Bringuier, Jean-Marie Drot, among others. Ange Casta dedicated his work to public television.
Over the years, he balanced his activities between fiction, major reports, and creative documentaries, directing over a hundred films. For programs like “Cinq Colonnes à la Une” and special editions of “Information Première” (Pierre Desgraupes), he traveled the world during the decolonization era, covering regions such as Somalia/Ethiopia, communist Romania, Palestine (Gaza), Vietnam (La guerre à 25 ans), Algeria (L’Algérie dix ans après), Laos (Commando, piste Ho Chi Minh, bombardements B52), Cambodia (Siège de Phnom-Penh/Chronique d’une route coupée), Chad (Au-delà de la guerre), Latin America (Typhon sur le Honduras/Médecins Sans Frontières).
Through his creative documentaries, Ange Casta observed, analyzed, and testified about a changing world during the years of growth, the “Trente Glorieuses,” with both the best and the worst, including the upheaval of May 1968, the long strike at ORTF for freedom of expression, and subsequent crisis years. His works include “De mère en fille,” “Le temps s’en va Madame,” “La Rupture,” “Les Chemins de la vie,” “Les Dossiers de l’écran,” “Daniel Claude Simone et un million d’autres,” “La Pub,” “Que vive Mexico,” “Beurs,” “La Parabole corse.” Pierre Bourdieu and Françoise Dolto collaborated on his projects, and he also portrayed and documented great writers and personalities such as Alain-Fournier (“À la recherche du Grand Meaulnes”), Saint-Exupéry (“Visages de Saint-Exupéry”), Ampathé Bâ, Amadou Seydou (Service de la recherche ORTF), contributing to “Lectures pour tous.”
Ange Casta directed prominent actors in his fiction films, including Suzanne Flon, Patrick Dewaere, Martine Carol, Alice Sapritch, Jean Desailly, Philippe Avron, Claude Evrard, Bernard Fresson, Juliette Gréco, Jean-Marc Bory, Catherine Rouvel, Grégoire Aslan, Henri Virlojeux, etc., in works like “La Belle Équipe,” “Si j’étais vous,” “Monsieur Il,” “Drame à un personnage,” “La Roulette russe,” “Colomba,” “Jean Jaurès; vie et mort d’un socialiste,” “Mademoiselle Clarisse.”
Ange Casta received national and international awards for his films, including the René-Barthélemy Award, Grand Prix de la télévision in 1965, Prague Gold in 1981, Sept d’Or in 1985, and the Grand Prix du jury at the Festival de l’Environnement in 1992.
In 1976, he initiated the communication campaign for Médecins sans frontières, providing free support from Havas. This campaign, with the slogan “Dans leur salle d’attente deux milliards d’hommes,” marked a turning point for MSF, contributing to its international recognition and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.
Simultaneously, Ange Casta served as an associate professor of Communication Sciences and Film Studies at the Université Louis-Lumière Lyon II for fifteen years (1977/1993), establishing the communication and cinema program for the third cycle.
In January 1987, after the privatization of TF1 and the creation of several commercial television channels, Ange Casta, as part of a group of experts, proposed a fundamental reform of public television financing as a state service. This proposal aimed to escape the commercialization of its program policy, suggesting the removal of advertising on its channels, compensated equally by a Culture and Communication contribution, modulated and collected from the entire advertising market. This choice would be accompanied by a balanced revision of the television license fee paid by users. Although initially considered by Prime Minister Michel Rocard, the proposal was eventually abandoned under pressure.
Starting from 1990, Ange Casta led the working group “Pour que vive la télévision publique,” which included Pierre Bourdieu, Max Gallo, Pierre Moinot, Claude Marti, Jean Martin (lawyer), and Christian Pierret (President of the Caisse des dépôts).
Twenty years later, on January 8, 2008, in a different political context, President Nicolas Sarkozy unexpectedly revived this reform proposal, leading to the removal of advertising from public television without equivalent financial compensation, thus reducing its resources (See Claude Soula’s article in Nouvel Observateur on January 17, 2008).
From 2003 to 2007, Ange Casta served as the president of the Société civile des auteurs multimédia.
In 2005, he initiated the creation of the Étoiles de la Scam, awarded annually to the best documentary films.
Ange Casta, a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, passed away on October 13, 2020, in Le Plessis-Robinson at the age of 93.
Filmography
- 1958: La Belle Équipe
- 1959: Attention… Je pique !
- 1968: Colomba
- 1971: Si j’étais vous
- 1984: Mademoiselle Clarisse (based on Violette Leduc)