Biography – Guillaume Broust
Alpine filmmaker
I grew up in the French Alps, in the mountain town of St. Hilaire (the world’s paragliding Mecca!) So it was only natural that I gravitated towards mountain sports at an early age: paraglidling of course (since 1994) but also skiing, rock climbing, snowkiting, mountaineering… My arts education offered me the chance to work with all types of media: drawing, painting, and comics to start. I then moved on to web design, print graphics, motion design, visual effects and digital tools.
I started filming in 1997. At the time, barely a handful of people talked about 8K RAW or 4K 10-bit 4:2:2!
I used a videotape camcorder to produce my first movies and then a linear video editing to digitize it all, which was a feat in and of itself! Technology has obviously continued to advance over the years and the filmmaking profession rewards those with the ability to quickly adjust to change: whether it be rapidly changing weather in the mountains, or new digital platforms. From 2001 to 2017, I oversaw all film production for Petzl, and filmed or directed most of their movies, including all films for the world-renowned Petzl RocTrip. I also produced and directed movies for Ozone Paragliders and the Red Bull Vertigo. Since 2018, I have been making films and videos as an independent filmmaker.
I like to tell stories about adventure, whether on expeditions to remote corners of the Himalaya or in my home mountains here in the Alps. Outdoor sports and spectacular footage are simply a pretext to delving into the minds of extreme sports athletes. Music also plays a central role in my creative works. I like powerful and eclectic musical scores, and often work with independent musicians to customize the soundtrack to the narrative. One of my most recent big projects is a documentary film about the different uses and significance of water in communities throughout the world, called The Sounds of Water (Les Chants de l’Eau). 
Expertise
- Content creation – Concept, storyboard, pre-production
- Project management – Filming schedule, managing contributors, budget
- Filming – Shooting footage (4K) in rope access situations, in the air, in the mountains, or with drone
- Post-production – Editing, color grading, sound design, visual effects
- Broadcasting – Digital strategy, multi languages, video platforms, and social media
Technical skills
- Graduated from National School of Fine Arts (Beaux-Arts)
- Graduated from the Gobelins School of Visual Arts
- Certified Drone (UAV) Pilot – DGAC (ED 9720)
- Certified Rope Access Technician – IRATA#1 – (1/115836)
- Certified Scuba Diver – PADDI Open Water – (1403AB2402)
- Certified Paragliding Tandem Pilot – FFVL – (0071306F)
- Certified Free Diver – IDA #1
- Certified Rescue Curse – SST
- Certified Ifremmont (Mountain Medecine)
Clients – Sponsors – Partners
The collective
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Cameramen, sound engineers, photographers, actors and actresses, film editors, musicians, so many people contribute to making a film, and the director’s role is to coordinate all of this creative energy so that everyone heads in the same artistic direction. While I have developed the requisite technical skills for several of these professions, any major film production always requires a team of artists and technicians working in sync together.
Production – Editing – Visual Effects
Audio-visual production companies know how to manage big projects and assemble the necessary resources. They hire subcontractors, light or sound engineers, etc. They are the cornerstone for film projects that can last several months (or even years). I have often called upon their services for his most important film productions.
MédéO Productions – Seven Doc – INVID Productions – Baraka Flims
Camera work – Photography
The cameramen and photographers who work with me are all experienced professionals with the rope access and climbing skills to move around in the mountains. They are capable of spending several days on the world’s most remote big walls to capture in truly extreme conditions.
Bertrand Delapierre – Julien Nadiras – Marc Daviet – Sam Bié – Guillaume Vallot – Stephan Denys – Laurent Lafouche
Aerial cinematography
Aerial cinematography adds unprecedented and amazing footage to any film. In addition to drones and FPV, the INVID Productions team has developed a unique system with capabilities that drones and helicopters simply do not possess. This truly amazing tool captures paragliders up close.
Chris Tong-Viet – Antoine Boisselier
Original Soundtracks
Music is an integral part of my creative process. The musicians I work with are all independent artists who create original scores, often with unique compositions for specific segments of footage, creating a mix of images and sound like no other! You can support these incredible artists by following them and listening to their music.
- Ada & the Fish Tree [bandcamp]
- Aneeway Jones [bandcamp] – [soundcloud]
- Degiheugi [site internet] – [bandcamp] – [soundcloud]
- LinkRust [bandcamp] – [soundcloud]
- Dziahn [bandcamp] – [soundcloud]
- eKoman [soundcloud]
- Ghostown [bandcamp] – [soundcloud]
- NoX Sound [site internet] – [soundcloud]
- Igor Petiovitch [bandcamp]
- The Av.i [bandcamp] – [soundcloud]
- Vlad Cellier [site internet]
- Zikali [site internet] – [bandcamp] – [soundcloud]
Elite Athletes
The long list includes mountain and rock climbers, paraglider pilots, ice climbers, ultra runners, and skiers to name a few. They figure among the top athletes in their disciplines, and some are genuine living legends! They represent the cornerstone of my movie making process and spirit. Here is a list of just a few of these amazing athletes (click on their names to watch the films that they starred in).
Climbers
Dave Graham, Chris Sharma, Said Belhaj, Dani Andrada, Nina Caprez, Lynn Hill, Sasha DiGiulian, Mike Fuselier, Liv Sansoz, Steve McClure, Julia Chanourdie, Arnaud Petit, Stéphanie Bodet, Jorg Verhoeven, Klemen Becan, Philippe Ribiere, Hee Young Park, the Pou brothers, Gérome Pouvreau, Charlotte Durif, Mélissa LeNevé, Solenne Piret, Cédric Lachat, Jérôme Meyer
Trail Runners
Kilian Jornet, Clare Gallagher, Sébastien Chaigneau, Fernanda Maciel
Guillaume in action!
A life spent on the edge, a passion for outdoor sports (paragliding, alpine climbing, freeskiing, kite surfing…) and so many other far-off adventures provided me with the necessary skill set to shoot film and photos in the most challenging locations: the high mountains, the sky, the deepest caves, the steepest slopes, or even hanging off big walls, buildings, and communications towers. I love to capture every different angle that the human eye can see… and some that it doesn’t see.
I have also had the chance to travel around the world to more than 40 countries, including Nepal, Indonesia, Bhutan, Cambodia, Ladakh, Laos, New Zealand, China, Senegal, USA, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Polynesia, Morocco, Azores, Israel, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Turkey, and almost every country in Europe. This powerful connection to the world and its people has provided me with knowledge about so many different cultures, the ability to adapt, and to always keep an open mind.
