Siegfried Debrebant

A nomadic artist, Siegfried Debrebant is a musician (cello, piano), composer, director and photographer. His first feature film, Louise (take2), shot in the Paris metro, was screened in the official selection at the Cannes Festival in 1998 and at the Sundance Festival in 1999. In 2003, he directed Sansa with Roschdy Zem, an adventure film shot in 12 countries. The film was screened at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. In 2008, he directed Kinogamma, a feature film in two parts, a true cinematic experience, shot in Moscow and on the roads of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Mongolia and India. In 2011, he shot Kids Stories in Kazakhstan and Calcutta with children. In 2017 his film Riga (take 1) was shown in international festivals and received awards for the actors’ performances. After numerous tours in Russia, Latvia and the Middle East, he shot in Calcutta Bengali Variation, a love story in the overcrowded Babylon. The film is selected for the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2021.

In between filming, Siegfried, under the name Sig, performs in many countries with a trio and various musicians. He collaborates with renowned musicians such as Ivry Gitlis, Erik Truffaz, Steve Lacy, Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir, Thomas Bangalter, Vladimir Volkov, Lewis Pragasam, Joy Frempong. He composes soundtracks for his own films and sometimes for other directors such as Sergei Bodrov, Guka Omarova, Xavier Durringer. He has also released various albums such as “Free Cinematic Sessions” (triple album urban jazz world), “Schizo” and “Native dancer” (recorded in Kazakstan), “Freespeed Sonata” (classical hip-hop sonata), “Vertigo bound” (recorded in India), “Traffic Jam in the Jungle” (recorded in Kuala Lumpur), Tawassoul (recorded in Tunisia with the great singer Mounir Troudi). He gives solo piano concerts in the Philharmonic of Russia, Ukraine and Bulgaria and tours all over the world in a trio with Erik Truffaz and Artis Orubs (Elegia Session) and also with another original trio with Kus (beat box) and Stalk (sax).

He has already published two collections of photographs with Editions du Seuil, “ZigZag” in 2005 and “Far East by Siegfried” with Editions de la Martinière in 2012. In 2018 a photographic retrospective was organised at the Museum of Modern Art in St Petersburg-Erarta and was a great success.