Olivier Assayas brought his latest film Hors du temps (2024) to the 28th Umbria Film Festival and was honored with the keys to the town of Montone.

His first short film, Copyright (1979), attracted the attention of Serge Toubiana and Serge Daney, who suggested that he collaborate with Cahiers du cinéma, a magazine for which he wrote from 1980 to 1985, showing a particular interest in oriental cinema. At the same time, passionate about rock music, he also writes for Rock & Folk, collaborates as a screenwriter with Laurent Perrin and André Téchiné, and makes other short films.

In 1986 he made his feature film directorial debut with Désordre – Disorder, set among youth gangs in Paris. His subsequent films focus on generational conflicts and difficulties in interpersonal relationships, as in The Winter Child (1989), Against Destiny (1991), starring one of the iconic actors of the New Wave, Jean-Pierre Léaud, and especially in L’eau froide (1994). In 1996 he directed his most acclaimed work, Irma Vep, a tribute to French film pioneer Louis Feuillade and Hong Kong cinema.

In 2000, Assayas directed the costume production Les Destinées sentimentales, based on a novel by Jacques Chardonne, starring Emmanuelle Béart and Isabelle Huppert. In subsequent films, Demonlover (2002), set in the world of manga production, and Clean (2004), which explores the punk milieu and again stars Maggie Cheung, Assayas returned to an experimental film form and a more intimate narrative. In 2005 he directed an episode of the collective film Paris, je t’aime, dedicated to the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, and in 2007 he participated in Chacun son cinéma, a celebratory film produced for the Cannes Film Festival by Gilles Jacob, composed of 33 short auteur films.