about





Romain Claris has been creating short films since 2000, which have been selected and awarded at more than a hundred international film festivals.

A graduate of the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français in Paris in 2005, he went on to establish the video department at the advertising and communication agency Claris Image Builder, being responsible for the production and direction of 500 films.

In 2020, he co-founded and became the director of the Bordeaux Shorts Biennale. The third edition of the Bordeaux Shorts Biennale is scheduled for October 2024.

He collaborates with photographer Nicolas Claris on several exhibitions of photographs and videos, including Bangladesh in 2013, Rouge in 2017, Noirs in 2018, Un peu de rouge, pourtant in 2020, and On the rocks in 2023.

Romain Claris has been involved in various cinema educational projects, including sessions at the Lycée de Pauillac in 2013, and at the Lycée Victor Louis de Talence in 2019 and 2022.

Currently in preparation for 2026 is the creative documentary Les comptes de la lune, offering an alternative history of the invention of numbers and calculation.




After a trip to Niger in 1995, where he witnessed the shooting of the feature film "Imûhar" right in the middle of the Sahara, Romain Claris dedicated several years to black and white and color photography.

He purchased his first digital camera by selling his poetry collections at the Bordeaux train station and began creating very short films in 2000 with "Infini," written and filmed in Spain, and "Real Trip," shot in New York in 2001.
In 2004, he worked as a cameraman on "Lisbon Project" by Irish artist James Coleman, produced by Les Films d'Ici.

Graduating with honors from the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français in 2005, he then established the video department of the communication and advertising agency Claris Image Builder. He oversaw the production and direction of approximately 500 films for the luxury industry, covering areas such as yachting, vineyards, architecture, and culinary arts, including some signature films like Air Mer Bateaux Terre.

Simultaneously, alongside his agency work, he continued to create short films that were selected and awarded at around a hundred international film festivals.

In 2007, his one-minute film "Two" received a Special Mention at the Lille Minute Film Festival.
His films "Life Choice" and "Le temps mange la voix et les mots" were selected for the cultural program of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, representing France at the World One Minute event.
His film-poem Painting with the dragonfly written and filmed in the USA, was selected by the Cinérail Festival in Paris in 2009.
In 2011, his short film La robe was awarded Best Experimental Film at the Disturb Awards in Paris.

He also created several documentary portraits of creators, including Bernard Varvat, a marble sculptor in 2005, and Gilles Jonemann, a jewelry and object creator in 2009.
In 2011, the artistic director of the international dance troupe United Dance Company, Alexandre Hoffmann, entrusted him with a carte blanche: the production of a 45-minute documentary about the company's life.
In 2013, he produced a film for the presentation of the new collection by fashion designer Tomas Bagackas at the Lithuanian Embassy in Paris.

For its ninth edition in 2017, the international film festival "Pêcheur du Monde" appointed him as the president of the professional jury.

In 2018, his one-minute film Cousins of clouds shot with a mobile phone, was selected by around fifty international festivals and won five awards, including Best Philosophy in Animation at the Avalonia Festival in the USA.
In 2018, he co-directed the medium-length film Behold the night with Jacques Dubuisson, a very free adaptation of Yasunari Kawabata's novel "Les belles endormies," selected at the Experimental Forum in Los Angeles and in Belgium at the Verbeke Foundation at the Wunderground Film Festival. It received the Best Experimental Medium-Length Film award at the Five Continent International Film Festival.

In 2019, Romain Claris participated in the "Un trésor à la carte" initiative by Watever: a private auction at the Lafayette Anticipation Foundation, with proceeds benefiting sea rescue actors. He contributed by creating the very short film Here begins.
The film was subsequently selected at the EuropeNow festival in Madrid and the Bideodromo International Experimental Film Festival in Bilbao.

Produced in 2019, The water of the earth is a tale that offers multiple levels of interpretation with its metaphors and allegories. Inspired by about thirty paintings by grandmasters such as Qi Baishi, Gao Xingjian, Shoda Koho, and Katsushika Hokusai, Chloé Guêze paints this Oceania tale: the story of an ordinary little frog who wanted to become extraordinary.
L'eau de la terre was awarded Best Animated Film at the Varese International Short Film and the Picasso Einstein Buddha International Film Festival, with the Best Animated Short Film Script award.

In 2022, his short art film The dance won the Best Art Film award at the Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival and the Venus Community Awards in Turkey.
White bear in Hippo Land received the Best Animated Film award at the Roma Short Film Festival.

Romain Claris also collaborated with photographer Nicolas Claris on several photo and video exhibitions, including Bangladesh in 2013, Trois châteaux en hiver in 2014, Bateaux, Châteaux, Gâteaux in 2016, Rouge in 2017, Noirs in 2018, Un peu de rouge, pourtant in 2020, and On the rocks in 2023.
Black hole created for "On the rocks," won the Best Experimental Art Film award at the Pure Magic International Film Festival in Amsterdam.

In 2020, film festival producer Jonathan Zsofi entrusted him with the creation and direction of the Bordeaux Shorts Biennale, the International Minute Film and Short Film Festival of Bordeaux.
The festival features 1-minute films, very short films ranging from 1 to 4 minutes, and short films from 4 to 15 minutes in the genres of Fiction, Animation, Documentary, and Art/Experimental.
The third edition of the festival will take place in October 2024.