French journalist, filmmaker, author and politician.
The founder and editor-in-chief of the satirical quarterly Fakir, he is best-known for directing the film Merci patron!
Following a heated debate on a French news television channel, Left wing MP François Ruffin defies a TV columnist and attorney, Sarah Saldmann, to work and live one month on the minimum-wage. This humanistic and humoristic documentary highlights the daily struggles and joys of the working-class compared to the fantasy the bourgeoisie has built up in the media. It also raises a thorny question : can the rich be socially reintegrated ?
On June 9, 2024, in a shocking move, the French President dissolved the National Assembly following the RN’s historic success in the European elections, triggering four weeks of an unprecedented and chaotic campaign. From right-wing alliances to the left’s union and the final makeup of Parliament, this documentary unpacks the twists and turns of a political earthquake with expert analysis.
Since the cult success of Merci Patron!, activist/journalist/filmmaker François Ruffin has become an MP. Here, he attempts to table a law aimed at upholding the rights of what in Quebec are known as caregivers, and shows us in passing how a law whose need seems patently obvious is put together, debated, voted on and . . . dies on the battleground of French politics. A stirring documentary about social injustice that somehow manages to make us bust a gut laughing as we rage with indignation. And also cry at the beauty of it all, thanks to the director’s humanist sensibility and a deft play between reality and fiction.
Made on a shoestring budget, François Ruffin and Gilles Perret’s investigative documentary has the adventurous spirit of a road movie. Intimate and sometimes humorous, encounters with yellow vest protestors pierce through reports of violence and destruction, revealing a collective desire for equity.
A family fired by a company owned by LVMH (Group owned by French billionaire, Bernard Arnault) seeks reparation from their previous employer with the help of the movie director.