Born in Melun in 1966, Guillaume Nicloux was deeply affected at the age of 5 by Walt Disney's animated film Bambi. This first cinematic shock sparked his imagination: he began to draw and to write his own scripts.

After starting to study accounting, Guillaume Nicloux started his theatre company La Troupe at the age of 18. In 1990 his first film, The Flying Children (“Les Enfants Volants”), earned him film festival selections in Berlin and Toronto.

In 1994, despite positive reactions at Cannes to Happiness is No Joke (“Faut pas rire du bonheur"), the filmmaker, lacking cinematic inspiration, turned to literature and published several successful police novels, including the The Octopus and Zoocity series.

Since the 2000s, Guillaume Nicloux has created a unique cinema which transcends genres, from political films – The Gordji Affair (“L’Affaire Gordji”, 2012) – to quirky comedies  – Thalasso, 2019, dramas  – To the Ends of the World (“Les Confins du monde", 2018), TV series  – Twice Upon a Time (“Il était une seconde fois"), 2019)  – and a film noir triptych  – A Private Affair, Hanging Offense, The Key (“Une affaire privée", "Cette femme-là", La Clef”).

A great proponent of provocation, Guillaume Nicloux has distinguished himself in many genres. There is, however, a common thread running through the content of his works: through his impulsive writing, the filmmaker often examines death, hope and the idea of time passing.

His encounters with Michel Houellebecq (The Gordji Affair, 2012) and Gérard Depardieu (Valley of Love in 2015) inspired Guillaume Nicloux anew: he revisited the documentary genre by asking the actors to play themselves in The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq (“L’Enlèvement de Houellebecq”, 2014) and Thalasso (2019), two critical hits proving that his work shines brightest when he blends absurdity, reality and fiction.

Starting with the release of his first film, The Flying Children (1990), screened in Toronto and Berlin, Guillaume Nicloux was launched onto the world stage. But it was above all starting in 2012 that the French creator began to intrigue international critics, thanks to his film The Nun (“La Religieuse"), presented at the Berlinale. Two years later in 2014, The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq earned him the Best Screenplay Award and the Special Jury Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival, as well as the Best Film Award at the Montreal World Film Festival.

With Valley of Love in 2015 and To the Ends of the World in 2018, filmed in the United States on the one hand and in Vietnam on the other, the filmmaker began to attract a wider audience.