Biography

Frédéric Rossif (1922-1990) was a French film and TV series director, best known for his pioneering wildlife, cultural, historical and art documentaries produced for television and cinema. Born in Cetinje, Montenegro (former Yugoslavia) on February 16th 1922, Frédéric studied mathematics in Rome, and during World War II joined the French Foreign Legion, where he fought with the Allies in Libya, Italy and France, ultimately taken prisoner by the Germans in 1945. He lost his family during the war.

After the war Frédéric settled in France, at first working with the ‘Cinémathèque Française’ but in 1952 moving to O.R.T.F. for the production of television series, among others “La Vie Des Animaux” (1952-1966), “Cinq Colonnes à La Une” and “Éditions Spéciales”. His breakthrough came with the production of "Le Temps Du Ghetto" (1961), about the terrible acts that took place in the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland. His next film "Mourir A Madrid" (To Die In Madrid) about the Spanish Civil War was nominated for an Academy Award in 1965. Another major production is his film about the Russian Revolution, "Revolution d'Octobre" (1967). In 1970 Frédéric produced his only non-documentary film, "Aussi Loin Que L'Amour", featuring Salvador Dali (among others).

Probably Frédéric Rossif and Vangelis Papathanassiou first meet in Paris in 1970, a time when Vangelis was still involved with his band “Aphrodite’s Child”, but also looking for projects to compose music for outside of the band (such as his score for Henry Chapier’s “Sex Power”). That year Rossif produces a documentary “Cantique Des Créatures”, based on a religious song by Saint Francis of Assisi from the 13th century and ask Vangelis to write the music. The feature is their first collaboration, their friendship would last a lifetime.

The next year Fréderic Rossif organises a live session with renowned painter Georges Mathieu, where he artist creates two action-paintings ‘live’, while Vangelis simultaneously improvises music on the set. A recording of this session is included in Rossif’s documentary about the painter "Georges Mathieu, Ou La Fureur d'être” (1971). Other Rossif-documentaries about creative artists that include a score by Vangelis are “Au Pays Des Visages” (1972), a feature about photographer Gisèle Freund, “George Braques, Ou Le Temps Différent” (1974), “Pablo Picasso Peintre” (1981) and “Morandi” (1989), about the life and work of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi.

In 1973 Fréderic Rossif produces the wild-life series “L’Apocalypse Des Animaux” for French television. The acclaimed series, consisting of six episodes is broadcast on O.R.T.F. every Tuesday night, starting on June 5th 1973. About this work Vangelis would later say: “At the time I remember that we didn’t have a minute to think. We used to do a one-hour programme per day. Rossif was the first person I’d worked with who realised that spontaneity is the best way to work. He understood the way I functioned, so he purposely avoided showing me any of the footage in advance of the recording sessions. I was composing and recording while watching the images for the first time.”

After this, Vangelis scores many of Rossif's wild-life documentaries, with well-known titles like "La Fête Sauvage" (1976), "L'Opera Sauvage" (1979) and "Sauvage Et Beau" (1984). Often the wild-life footage shot for these documentaries is later re-used for compilation television series such as “Histoires d’Animaux” (1973), “Animaux Coulours” (1974), “Un Monde Différent” (1982), "Splendeur Sauvage" (1986), "Les Animaux De Frederic Rossif" (1989) and "Beaute Sauvage" (1989).

An interesting aspect of the compilation television series is that Vangelis’ music from the original productions is also being re-used here, which sometimes results in longer or different takes from the original scores heard in the compilation series. One theory is that Rossif or his engineeers kept an archive of Vangelis’ original music, and later re-used some of the older cues in the compilation series.

A special documentary is “L’Arbre De Vie” (1980), an episode in the interview television programme “L’Invité” by FR3, as it is dedicated to the music of Vangelis and apart from interviews shows Vangelis improvising on his instruments in a television studio. In 1985 Rossif wrote the preface in Gian Paolo Barbieri's photobook "Silent Portraits", which contains a record with original music by Vangelis.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of L'Institut Pasteur in Paris, Frédéric Rossif produced a special documentary, “Pasteur Le Siecle” in 1987 for which Vangelis again composes the score. In 1989, a year before Rossif's death, they work together on what is to be their last collaboration, "De Nuremberg á Nuremberg", a four hour long documentary -in four parts- about the rise and fall of the German empire during World War II.

Frédéric Rossif passed away in Paris on the 18th of April 1990, where he was buried in the cemetary of Montparnasse.

Filmography (with music by Vangelis)