Kassovitz was born in Paris , the son of Chantal Rémy , a film editor , and Peter Kassovitz , a director and writer . His mother is a French Roman Catholic , and his father is a Hungarian Jew who left during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 . ( Mathieu has described himself as " not Jewish but I was brought up in a world of Jewish humor " . ) As a filmmaker , Kassovitz has made several artistic and commercial successes . He wrote and directed '' La Haine '' ( '' Hate '' , 1996 ) , a film dealing with themes around class , race , violence , and police brutality . The film won the César Award for Best Film and netted Kassovitz the Best Director prize at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival . When he was compared to Spike Lee because the film was being compared to Lee 's '' Do the Right Thing '' , he noted the irony : He later directed '' Les Rivières Pourpres '' ( 2000 ) , a police detective thriller starring Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel , another massive commercial success in France , and '' Gothika '' ( 2003 ) , a fantasy thriller ( considered by some to be a commercial failure , although it grossed over three times its roughly $ 40 million budget ) , with Halle Berry and Penélope Cruz . He used the money he made from '' Gothika '' to develop a far more personal project '' Babylon Babies '' , the adaptation of one of Maurice Dantec 's books . Kassovitz established the film production firm MNP Entreprise in 2000 " to develop and produce feature films by Kassovitz and to represent him as a director and actor . " MNP Entreprise is responsible for the co-productions of a number of films including '' Avida '' ( 2006 ) in which Kassovitz acts and '' Babylon A.D. '' which he directed . Kassovitz purchased the film rights for the novel '' Johnny Mad Dog '' by Congolese writer Emmanuel Dongala . The film was also co-produced by MNP Entreprise , and directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire . The premiere of the film was made at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival where it was screened within the Un Certain Regard section
2008 Cannes Film Festival
2008 Cannes Film Festival
Mathieu Kassovitz