Oscar-nominated cinematographer Marcel Ophuls, renowned for The Pit and Chorus of Regret, passes away at age 97 | Cinema

Marcel Ophuls, a French filmmaker who won an Oscar for his documentary “The Sorrow and the Pity”, passed away at the age of 97. The documentary unveiled the truth about the French Vichy government’s collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War II. Ophuls’ grandson, Andreas-Benjamin Seyfert, confirmed his peaceful death on Saturday. Born in Frankfurt in 1927, Ophuls and his family fled to France after the rise of the Nazi party and later escaped to the United States. He later returned to France and directed several films, including “Love at Twenty” and “Banana Peel”. However, his documentary “The Sorrow and the Pity” was banned by a French government-run TV station in 1969 for exposing the extent of French collaboration with the Nazis. Ophuls won an Academy Award for his later documentary, “Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie”. He spent his final years in southern France, where he was working on a documentary about Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/may/26/marcel-ophuls-dies-filmmaker-death-aged-97