ARTFX founder Gilbert Kiner receives the Ordre National du Mérite medal

On February 10, Gilbert Kiner was awarded the “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite” french medal by the French Ministry of Culture in Montpellier, in recognition of his commitment and exceptional contribution to the film and audiovisual industry as a pioneer of special effects in France. The award honors his achievements and those of the ARTFX school, which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. During the award ceremony, Mr. Kiner made it clear that “for him, cinema is much more than an industry, it’s a true culture”.

The award was presented by Patrick Eveno, founder of the Annecy Film Festival and the Cité de l’Image en Mouvement, who honored him with a speech retracing the key stages of his career: Gilbert discovered his passion for images at an early age, first through photography and the lab in his parents’ attic, then through photo clubs in sixth form and in a MJC. He was an enthusiastic member of the French Federation of Photography, and later, with his great appetite for cinema and his unfailing motivation, he studied and worked in parallel for various television channels, mainly FR3, with a clear preference for creative rather than reportage work. He was one of the first to work for Canal+ (one of the most famous French TV channel, today is a global media and entertainment group) joining the team with Mathias Ledoux and Etienne Robial, in charge of creating the channel’s look and feel even before it went on air. He worked alongside

From that time on, Gilbert Kiner was an artist fascinated by technique. Perseverance, audacity, strength, conviction and the ability to seize opportunities are just some of the qualities that describe him (Patrick Eveno).

In 1988, Gilbert joined Mikros Images, encouraged by Pierre Lescure. It was the beginning of digital technology, with Jean-Christophe Averty and Youri Glinski as references. After arriving as a supervisor, Gilbert became director of special effects in 1991. But Mikros was evolving strictly in the video field, and Gilbert wanted to make films: this was one of the reasons why he joined Medialab in 1993 as Director of the CGI Film department. He then became head of the VFX department and digital special effects supervisor at Mainstreet, where he worked directly with directors such as Claire Denis, Bruno Dumont and Mathieu Kassovitz, and crossed paths with Peter Greenaway and Francis Ford Coppola. From special effects pioneer to expert in the field, he began teaching compositing and VFX at Supinfocom Arles, as well as continuing education courses. These experiences made him realize that many aspects of VFX were not taught in schools, and that the creative dimension of special effects was not sufficiently prominent in curricula. This was the beginning of Gilbert’s reflection, which led to his conviction that it was necessary to create a school and training courses to meet this need, which he foresaw would become increasingly important: this was the birth of ARTFX.

This school has become an artistic movement, and in our art school, teachers and students work together on an equal footing to merge the artistic and the technical. Whether in film, animation, video games, photography, graphic design or writing, art must be part of everyday life. Technicality serves art, and art supports technicality. And that’s what’s really essential for us: that our students are both artists and technicians. (Gilbert Kiner)

Gilbert also underlined his pride in having created his first ARTFX school in Montpellier, a territory of excellence for the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI), where the school is involved on a daily basis in the events that make up the city: Coeur de Ville en Lumières, Cinémed, le Musée Fabre, la Métropole de Montpellier, etc.

About: The “Ordre national du Mérite” is a French honorary order awarded for distinguished military or civil merit to the French nation. It replaces former ministerial and colonial orders. It is the fourth decoration in order of precedence after the Legion of Honor, the Order of the Liberation and the Military Medal, but the third that can still be awarded, the Order of the Liberation having been forfeited. It was created to upgrade the national order of the french Legion of Honor to reward “eminent merit”.

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