French director and screenwriter, adept at shaping modern audience expectations of what authentic war films should look like. He was a former army reporter and photographer in Indo-China and Cambodia, taken prisoner at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Following his release, he became a war correspondent for 'Life', 'Time', 'Look' and 'Paris Match'. He also began making documentary films after meeting the writer and adventurer Joseph Kessel in 1955 in an opium den in Hong Kong. Kessel suggested Schoendoerffer direct his film "Passe du Diable", (set in Afghanistan), thus starting Schoendoerffer's career in films.
