Acting
Georges Moustaki
Born 1934-05-03 · Alexandria, Egypt
Georges Moustaki (born Giuseppe Mustacchi; 3 May 1934 – 23 May 2013) was an Egyptian-French singer-songwriter of Jewish Italo-Greek origin, best known for the poetic rhythm and simplicity of the romantic songs he composed and often sang. Moustaki gave France some of its best-loved music by writing about 300 songs for some of the most popular singers in that country, such as Édith Piaf, Dalida, Françoise Hardy, Yves Montand, Barbara, Brigitte Fontaine, Herbert Pagani, France Gall, Cindy Daniel, Juliette Gréco, Pia Colombo, and Tino Rossi, as well as for himself. Georges Moustaki was born Giuseppe Mustacchi in Alexandria, Egypt, on 3 May 1934. His parents, Sarah and Nessim Mustacchi, were Francophile, Greek Jews from the ancient Romaniote Jewish community. Originally from the Greek island of Corfu, they moved to Egypt, where young Giuseppe was born and first learned French. They owned the Cité du Livre − one of the finest book shops in the Middle East – in the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria, where many ethnic communities lived together. Moustaki's father spoke five languages whereas his mother spoke six. The young Giuseppe and his two older sisters spoke Italian at home and Arabic in the streets. The parents placed Giuseppe and his sisters in a French school where they learned to speak French. At the age of 17, after a summer holiday in Paris, Moustaki obtained his father's permission to move there, working as a door-to-door salesman of poetry books. He began playing the piano and singing in nightclubs in Paris, where he met some of the era's best-known performers. His career took off after the young singer-songwriter Georges Brassens took Moustaki under his wing. Brassens introduced him to artists and intellectuals who spent much of their time around Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Out of gratitude, Moustaki adopted the first name of the only musician he called "master". Moustaki said that his taste for music came from hearing various French singers – Édith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Henri Salvador, Georges Ulmer, Yves Montand, Georges Guétary and Luis Mariano – sing. Moustaki was introduced to Édith Piaf in the late 1950s by a friend whose praise of the young songwriter was so flattering that Piaf, then at the peak of her fame, requested somewhat sarcastically to hear him sing his best works. "I picked up a guitar and I was lamentable. But something must have touched her. She asked me to go and see her perform that same evening at the Olympia music hall and to show her later the songs I had just massacred." He soon began writing songs for Piaf, the most famous of which, Milord, about a lower-class girl who falls in love with an upper-class British traveller, reached number one in Germany in 1960 and number 24 in the British charts the same year. It has since been performed by numerous artists, including Bobby Darin and Cher. Piaf was captivated by Moustaki's music, as well as his great charm. Piaf liked how his musical compositions were flavored with jazz and styles that went beyond France's borders. Moustaki and Piaf became lovers and embarked on what the newspaper Libération described as a year of "devastating, mad love", with the newspapers following "the 'scandal' of the 'gigolo' and his dame day after day". ... Source: Article "Georges Moustaki" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Acting credits
5.2A small village lies peacefully nestled in the hills beneath the Provence sun... until the arrival of an odd group of vacationers. Who are these gorgeous young women from the big city strolling on the village square under the watchful eye of a chaperone as beautiful as she is authoritarian? Scandal arises when it’s learned these dreamy creatures are none other than the employees of a Marseille brothel come to enjoy the good clean air of the country. All hell breaks loose as the villagers take a stand for or against the presence of these "ladies of pleasure". The mayor is called on to relay women of the moral rules of the region to the women. But the fact remains, they can’t be forced to leave: while they have no intention of plying their trade, no law exists to bring their country retreat to a premature end. Different mentalities are revealed, passions unbridled, love kindled... and doesn’t love always solve everything in the end?
The Cocottes
1991
8.0Hadjis, a philosophy professor in his thirties, put his spiritual concepts into practice when he left Europe to settle in a working-class district of Tunis, where he lived in destitution. Together with two followers of his philosophy, a medical student and a poet, they form a close-knit, wise cenacle. Unfortunately, Hadjis strangles a prostitute while on a hashish binge. The police put an officer in charge of the investigation, and he soon tracked down the murderer. But, converted by the three friends to their philosophy, he ends his investigation and leaves the police to join them.
Beggars and Proud Ones
1972
4.9A disparate group of people meet at a hotel on a gorgeous and isolated Mediterranean island. Meanwhile, a woman schemes to get even with its owner.
Akoibon
2005
6.6A feature-length documentary about François Cavanna—creator of the publications Charlie Hebdo and Hara-Kiri—who passed away on January 29, 2014. His influence on several generations of writers, journalists, and comedians is far too little known. While older audiences are aware that he co-founded Hara-Kiri and Charlie Hebdo with Choron, the dozens of books and collections he wrote or contributed to remain largely unfamiliar. People chiefly remember his early autobiographical works—such as *Les Ritals*, *Les Russkoffs*, and *Bête et méchant*—while overlooking his historical novels, encyclopedias, and polemical writings like *Stop crève…* The film draws on interviews with Cavanna conducted shortly before his death, forgotten archival footage, and previously unheard testimonies from figures such as Siné, Willem, Delfeil de Ton, and Sylvie Caster.
Cavanna, jusqu'à l'ultime seconde j'écrirai
2015
4.7It's the dawn of April 25, 1974, when Marco, a 25-year old Italian and his Portuguese friend Victor leave Paris on a yellow Citroen 2CV. The goal of their trip is Lisbon, which on that night was freed from Europe's longest dictatorship. The two are joined by Claire, Victor's former girlfriend and University classmate, who wants to take a break from her everyday life, leaving behind her husband and baby son, to form again, even for a few days, the traveling trio with her friends.
The Revolution on Two Horses
2002
8.0No synopsis available yet.
Brigitte Fontaine : Reflets et crudité
2013
9.0No synopsis available yet.
Autour de la guitare, Olympia 2000
2001
10.0The film is set in Europe and depicts the love between a Japanese photographer and a princess from one of the European countries.
Europe Express
1984
For many, Georges Moustaki is "Le Métèque." He is also, and above all, the author of legendary songs for Edith Piaf, Milord, Reggiani, Sarah, La Solitude, Barbara, J'm'en balance..., Montand, Henri Salvador, Dalida, Colette Renard, and more. This film reveals how his songs have accompanied the key events in our history since 1968. It takes us to Egypt, to Alexandria, his hometown, and Paris with Henri Salvador, Serge Reggiani, Théodorakis, Paco Ibanez, Albert Cossery, Gérôme Charyn, Alexandre Fassianos, and Jorge Amado. A portrait at the crossroads of all the known and unknown paths in the life of Georges Moustaki, tenderly blending music, history, writing, friendships, and memories.
Joseph Mustacchi dit Georges Moustaki
1995