Marin Karmitz was born on 7 October 1938.
A graduate from the influential IDHEC film school, he was initially assistant director to the filmmakers Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Jacques Rozier, Yannick Bellon and Pierre Kast. In 1964, he directed his first short film, Nuit noire Calcutta, based on a screenplay by Marguerite Duras. In 1965, he worked with Samuel Beckett on the adaptation of Comédie. In the same year, the film was selected to open Venice International Film Festival and shocked audiences with its avant-garde material. Forty years later, the film would be recognized at the Venice Biennale and shown in museums around the world. Marin Karmitz’s first feature-length film was Seven Days Somewhere Else with Jacques Higelin in 1967, which was also selected at Venice International Film Festival. After May ’68, he directed two films: Comrades (1970) and Blow for Blow (1972), which would be screened at all the international festivals.

After founding mk2 Productions in 1967, Marin Karmitz launched a distribution company in 1974. In 40 years, Marin Karmitz would produce 108 films and distribute over 350 in theatres: Krzysztof Kieslowski’s trilogy, twelve films by Claude Chabrol, Godard, Resnais, Malle, the Taviani brothers, Angelopoulos, Pintilié, Van Sant, Nossiter, Kerrigan, Loach, Doillon, Lounguine, Kiarostami, Sang Soo, Haneke, Salles, Dolan…
These achievements have rightly been recognized: over 150 awards and nominations at the international festivals, including three Palmes d’Or in Cannes, three Golden Lions in Venice, a Golden Bear in Berlin, three Oscar nominations, twenty-five César…
Since 1 May 1974, Marin Karmitz has also developed a cinema operation business, reshaping the role of cinema in the city life. mk2 is now the third largest chain in Paris with 10 complexes and 65 screens, 6 made-to-measure cinemas and one of the biggest networks in Spain with 9 cinemas and 110 screens.

 

Several official events have celebrated Marin Karmitz’s work, including the Cinematheque Française and Georges Pompidou Centre in 1981, New York’s MoMA in 1989, Tel Aviv Cinematheque in 1992, Madrid Cinematheque in 1998, Munich Cinematheque and Strasbourg’s European Film Forum in 1999, the Cairo International Film Festival in 2002 and Bologna Cinematheque in 2003.

His career has been recognized by countless awards, including the Prix Georges de Beauregard for Best Producer, the Los Angeles Independent Spirit Award for Best Producer, the Lifetime Achievement Award at Cairo International Film Festival, the Federico Fellini Award at the Europa Cinema Awards, the Taormina Film Fest Award and the European Parliament LUX Prize from Viviane Reding. Marin Karmitz is also Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur, Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, Commandeur des Arts et Lettres, Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland and a recipient of Paris City Hall’s Médaille de Vermeil.

Alongside his work, Marin Karmitz has addressed the issues facing the film industry through professional bodies, particularly holding the roles of Chairman of the National Federation of Film Distributors (2001–2006), Chairman of the Cinematographic Industries’ Liaison Office (2002–2003), Chairman of the XI Plan’s Cultural Creation, Competitiveness and Social Cohesion Group in 1992 and member of the New Public Television Commission (Copé Commission) in 2008. The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, made Marin Karmitz a member of the Council for Artistic Creation between January 2009 and April 2011.

For mk2’s fortieth anniversary in 2014, tributes to Marin Karmitz and the company that he founded were paid around the world, including by New York’s MoMA (5–23 June 2014) and major international cultural institutions such as the Cinematheque Suisse (April 2014), Istanbul Film Festival (5–20 April 2014), Jerusalem Film Festival (10–20 July 2014), the BFI in London (in September 2014) and Sao Paulo International Film Festival (16–29 October 2014).

 

EXHIBITION CURATOR

In 2009: Silences at Strasbourg Modern Art Museum and the Berardo Collection Museum in Lisbon
In 2010: Traverses at Rencontres d’Arles photography festival

PUBLICATIONS

1995 : Bande à part, Grasset
2003 : Profession Producteur, Hachette Littérature
2009 : Silences, Editions des Musées de Strasbourg
2010 : Traverses, Editions Actes Sud
2016 : Comédies, Fayard

 

Photo credit: Benoit Linero for mk2 (2009)

In March 1995, Nathanaël Karmitz founded NADA, a company producing short films and cultural events. He joined mk2 in 1997 to develop its film-related activities, particularly the mk2 Project Café specializing in video art, and launched the affiliate mk2 éditions in 2000. In 2001, he created the mk2 record label. Between 2000 and 2003, he was part of the team designing the mk2 Bibliothèque complex, which opened on 19 February 2003. In 2004, he became head of the group’s ‘content’ unit, which brings together film production, cinema distribution, international sales and publishing. He was appointed mk2’s CEO in October 2005 (now Chairman of the Board).

Since then, Nathanaël Karmitz produced and coproduced numerous films including 13 Tzameti by the young Georgian talent Gela Babluani (Lion of the Future at Venice 2005, Jury Prize at Sundance 2006 and European Discovery at the European Film Awards 2006), Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park (60th Anniversary Award in Cannes 2006), Olivier Assayas’s Something in the Air and Summer Hours (voted Best Foreign Film by the critics in Boston, New York and Los Angeles in 2009), Abbas Kiarostami’s Like Someone In Love and Certified Copy with Juliette Binoche (Best Actress Award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival), Abdellatif Kechiche’s Black Venus, Walter Salles’s On the Road, Jia Zhang-Ke’s Mountains May Depart and Xavier Dolan’s Laurence Anyways, Tom At The Farm, Mommy and It’s Only the End of the World (Grand Prix, Cannes 2016, Best director, César 2017), Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War (2017), Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World (2021) (Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, Lumière for Best International Co-Production in 2022, Goya Award for Best European Film in 2023), Simple comme Sylvain by Monia Chokri (2023) (Grand Prix du Jury and Prix de la Jeunesse at the Cabourg Film Festival), and Room 999 by Lubna Playoust (2023).

He distributed around fifty films in France including Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know (Golden Camera in Cannes 2005), Steve McQueen’s Hunger (Golden Camera in Cannes 2008), Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank (Jury Prize in Cannes 2009), Serge Bromberg’s Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno (Best Documentary César 2010), Steve McQueen’s Shame (Best Actor Award in Venice 2011) and many others.

First operator in Paris to announce plans to digitize the entire cinema network, Nathanaël Karmitz has always been a pioneer in the 3D and digital revolution, distributing the first film purposefully designed for digital 3D, Ben Stassen’s Fly Me to the Moon, in France.

In June 2014, he acquired CINESUR, the biggest cinema chain in southern Spain and leading network in Andalusia. In 2017, he acquired mk2 Palacio de Hielo, the most important cinema in Madrid, and made mk2 the 3rd largest cinema operator in Spain.

In 2016, Nathanael and Elisha Karmitz created mk2 VR, the first permanent venue dedicated to virtual reality in Europe. With the development of the mk2 VR Pods – VR solutions for professionals, along with the management and distribution of a content catalogue, mk2 became a key player in immersive technologies. mk2 and its agency MK2+ created PSG Expérience, a fun and immersive visit of the Parc des Princes, and OCEANS, a virtual odyssey through an interactive aquarium.

In reaction to the lockdown in April 2020, Nathanaël and Elisha Karmitz launched mk2 Curiosity, a video-on-demand platform selected without algorithms by mk2’s programmers and cinephile teams. In 2020, they launched mk2 Institut, a space for expression, dialogue and exchanges which gives a voice to artists, authors and researchers, including Erri de Luca, Esther Duflo and François Surreau. They each encourage debate to discuss the world of today and tomorrow.

Created at the beginning of the 2010 decade by Elisha and Nathanaël Karmitz, the Paradiso brand aims to offer new life experiences around cinema. He opened Germain Paradisio, Paris’s first on-demand, private and luxury cinema, in the heart of the Latin Quarter. Hidden in the basement of Café Germain and entirely designed by India Mahdavi, the cinema soon became a reference.

Paradiso became the creative laboratory for many new cinema uses and reinvested the before and after screening with the Cinéma Paradiso events in 2013 and 2015, held under the nave of the Grand Palais, and in 2019 and every year since 2021 in the Square courtyard of the Louvre museum. Following on from this, Elisha and Nathanaël Karmitz opened the Hotel Paradiso in 2021, the first cinema-hotel with a unique concept in the world. Hotel Paradiso is shaking up the codes of the hotel and cinema industries while reflecting the mk2 values: selection, sharing, discovery and accessibility.

Also in 2021, Nathanaël acquired the legendary Cinema Paz in Madrid. This iconic theatre, which opened in Madrid in 1943, joins the mk2 network, which now counts 11 sites in Spain, including 2 in Madrid.

Photo credit : Philippe Quaisse for mk2 (2011)

Elisha Karmitz has filled the position of General Manager for mk2 Group since 2014.

Elisha Karmitz joined mk2 in 2006, as Director of Publications and Editing for the free newspaper TROISCOULEURS. A trail-blazing and involved film-loving media, TROISCOULEURS is dedicated to creative and innovative films and artists.

In 2008, Elisha Karmitz took the head of mk2 Multimedia and developed the communications and diversification operations for mk2 Group. In 2012, mk2 Multimedia became mk2 Agency, an agency specialised in audiovisual communications, content creation and events. This new structure puts mk2’s expertise at the service of brands, and connects them with cinema, culture and fashion talents. Elisha Karmitz has produced the following with mk2 Agency among others: Catherine Deneuve Rive Gauche, directed by Loïc Prigent, and Unpredictable Creativity, directed by Kim Chapiron for Nike.

In 2016, Elisha Karmitz created mk2 VR, the first permanent venue dedicated to virtual reality in Europe. With the development of the mk2 VR Pods – VR solutions for professionals, along with the management and distribution of a content catalogue, mk2 became a key player in immersive technologies. In 2019, in order to adapt to these new challenges, mk2 Agency became MK2+, a consultancy agency and creative studio for emotional experiences and campaigns. Among the agency’s achievements: PSG Expérience, a fun and immersive visit of the Parc des Princes and OCEANS, a virtual odyssey through an interactive aquarium.

Elisha Karmitz is also co-producer of the documentary Piratage, by Etienne Rouillon and Sylvain Bergère (2011), and of films such as : Jia Zhang-Ke’s Beyond the Mountains (2015) (in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and awarded the Screenplay Prize at the Asian Film Awards), Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World (2016) (awarded the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and the César for Best Director in 2017), Jia Zhang-Ke’s Ash is purest white (2017) (in competition at the Cannes Film Festival), Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War (2018) (awarded the Director’s Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and as Best Film at the European Film Awards), Xavier Dolan’s Matthias & Maxime (2019) (in competition at the Cannes Film Festival), by Joachim Trier’sThe Worst Person in the World (2021) (Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, Lumière for Best International Co-Production in 2022, Goya Award for Best European Film in 2023), Simple comme Sylvain by Monia Chokri (2023) (Grand Prix du Jury and Prix de la Jeunesse at the Cabourg Film Festival), and Room 999 by Lubna Playoust (2023).

In 2020, Elisha Karmitz launched mk2 Institut, a space for expression, dialogue and exchanges which gives a voice to artists, authors and researchers, including Erri de Luca, Esther Duflo and François Surreau. They each encourage debate to discuss the world of today and tomorrow.

Created at the beginning of the 2010 decade by Elisha and Nathanaël Karmitz, the Paradiso brand aims to offer new life experiences around cinema. In 2011, Elisha Karmitz launched the largest 3D projection in the world, with the projection of the animated film Rio under the nave of the Grand Palais in Paris, a performance which entered the Guinness Book of World Records.

Paradiso became the creative laboratory for many new cinema uses and reinvested the before and after screening with the Cinéma Paradiso events in 2013 and 2015, held under the nave of the Grand Palais, and in 2019 and every year since 2021 in the Square courtyard of the Louvre museum. Following on from this, Elisha and Nathanaël Karmitz opened the Hotel Paradiso in 2021, the first cinema-hotel with a unique concept in the world. The Hotel Paradiso is shaking up the codes of the hotel and cinema industries while reflecting the mk2 values: selection, sharing, discovery and accessibility.

 

 

Photo copyright: Gilles Bassignac/Divergence for JDD (2015)