ALAIN ZIRAH, BEST ARTIST 2020, 

RECEIVES 2 AWARDS

As a very creative fashion photographer, he has worked in the 80’s with the press agency Imapress which has published his photos in 25 countries, Sud Images Studio in Marseilles and CEO of Maisons-Laffitte Photo-Club, from 1994 to 1997, and CEO of AZ Pictures, actually. Iconoclastic and provocative, with his very saturated and contrasting portraits as well as his glamorous and voluptuous women, he triggers "Wow!” admiring. Alain Zirah is preparing a major exhibition of his 35 years of photography cancelled, due to the global pandemic. 

-“I am very grateful to Frederic Ponsard who gave me the taste for shooting and our first exhibitions. I was lucky to meet Helmut Newton who gave me a lot of advice that I still use, but also Sara Moon and Jean-François Jonvelle, who taught me how to present a porfolio.  In Arles (during RIP), I participated as judge with Lucien Clergue, a master of black and white. I take pictures almost every day. It's a way to make faces and personalities immortal, whether celebrities or strangers. To freeze moments of happiness.”

As a painter and illustrator, under the name of AZ (or AZED) he benefited from an atypical training and apprenticeship at the School of Fine Arts in Marseille. He shows some of his creations in Pierre Cardin’ Space or Carrousel du Louvre, in Paris. He is also working on a manga comics Kat Ladiz with Lionel Demai as illustrator and a Art Book with great drawers as Yves Bordes, Michael Collins and photographers as Christophe Mourthé. 

As a film director, Alain Zirah shot Dangerous Visions, a fantasy thriller, and works on Kat Ladies, a new digital series about Girl Power. The characters were created in his book Blood on the red carpet (Editions Thierry Sajat) and in the long feature The Kat Ladies he co-directed with Nicolas Biolley. With Angie’Films, he directed new episodes till during 70^thCannes Festival. His new feature, Power Pop Girls, is a series of sketches still about Girl Power. In his colored universe of thriller fantasy, glamorous young women become heroins to chase serial killers and avenge their unscrupulous ex-boyfriends.

-“Of cause, everything was stopped with the lockdown and I am seeking a new production team to make it bigger and better. The goal is put under to launch new stars and make them stars (Singers, actresses, top models ...), but also to set up addictive international series and to sell a new brand of clothes and fashion accessories.” 

As a French writer, Alain Zirah write books for women they appreciate his humor and faculty to give claw strokes to their male counterparts. God created Woman as herself and the last one Forbidden to Men. For the beginning of 2020, he wrote a book about Rock to show how important music and singers are in our lives. The book was announced to be published in May with another book about 15 years of Cannes Festival. The health crisis and government decisions have forced the postponement of these publications until further notice.  

-“I remain humble and it is a great honor to have my activities as an artist recognized by international professionals, says Alain Zirah. Thank you all for these great awards. I am looking forward to physically meeting the team that will actively participate in the OFF de Cannes during the OFF de Cannes Film Festival, in May 2021.”

Who said we had to choose a kind of Art?

More information : www.alainzirah.com

The OFF de Cannes festival is made by talent scouts who are at the forefront of the Cannes Film Festival and prepare the films that will be in the limelight tomorrow. Alain Zirah has been attending the Cannes Film Festival since 1983 and founded OFF de Cannes in 2005. He also brings together anecdotes and advice for artists in his book Cannes Festival Backstage (Société des Écrivains - 2017) with Bella Hadid on the cover. Since 2011, with the Great International Web Contest (Grand Concours International du Web), Anne Gomis brings an International credibility to the OFF de Cannes Festival. For 15 years, the OFF de Cannes has been gathering a pool of talents for artistic events that bring together cinema, music, writing, fashion and Fine Arts. The jury of professionals selects the most creative artists and follows their work. The OFF de Cannes festival put the lime light on multidisciplinary artists, who participate to the competition. During 10 years, Alain and Anne organize events, film screenings, fashion shows, photo shoots, art exhibitions, musical showcases and literary meetings, in Cannes as well as in different cities such as Paris, Marseille and Monaco. The luminous couple helps artists to produce their works and gives them international visibility on social networks, especially among the 190,000 film professionals around the world. The Great International OFF de Cannes Web Contest allows them to bring more than 7.000 artists in various artistic fields. The competition is opened. Send your videos, pictures and texts, now.

In 2019, the famous writer and businessman Paul-Loup Sulitzer was the patron. Known for his books Money, Cash, Fortune, The Green King, he sold 70 million books of "financial western", translated into 40 languages. Chaired by the president Olympia A. Gellini (Family Film Awards), completed by the American producer Steven Nia (World Film Institute), the French concert pianist Eric Ferrer, the Indian dancer, musician and director Raghunath Manet, the American actress Judi Beecher (Armaguedon), and the famous Tony Stark, the jury announced the winners during the ceremony in the famous Carlton Celebrity Bar.

The year 2020 was destined to be a pivotal year to celebrate the 15th OFF de Cannes anniversary. The Covid decided otherwise. The Cannes film festival has been cancelled but the OFFde Cannes’ team is working on the Great International Web Contest and shot already 4 shows made at home during the lockdown. The couple has already wrote the retrospective of the 15 years for an encyclopedic book about the Cannes Film Festival and wishes to develop it with an exhibition of exceptional photographs of the events of these years of rhinestones & glitter. The famous presenter Daniele Gilbert presented in her TVshow Midi Première many young singers who have become the most popular French artists. She is the OFF de Cannes’ godmother. All that remains now is to wait for the sanitary and governmental measures of deconfinement. After Covid-19, the world will not be the same as before. Let's hope that we will make it a better world.

More information at www.off-de-cannes.webs.com