Living a thousand lives in one
Michael Pitiot was never an engineer. Notwithstanding, this graduate who majored in computer engineering, before becoming a documentary film-maker has never forgotten the lessons he learned at UTC. On August 27, 2024 he came to the University to deliver an inaugural lesson to the students. His motto for this future generation of engineers? «Live your Dream!»
Even before he was admitted to UTC, Michael knew he probably wouldn’t be an engineer: «but I didn’t want to commit myself to studies that would prove meaningless to me. So what in fact drew me to enrol at Compiègne was that I’d been told it was a school that trained humanist engineers,» he adds. During his studies at UTC, he always wanted to go further afield, so he became involved with the NGO “Ingénieurs sans frontières”. «I learned that they were carrying out missions in Zaire, planning to make a short film for their patrons. A perfect opportunity for me! So I offered to make the film and they accepted. For three months, we stayed in an extremely isolated place, with no electricity or roads and everything had to be done on foot. It was an incredible human experience!
After graduating, there was no question of Michael shutting himself away in an office, so he became an image hunter-reporter. «I went to countries that were a bit hot, like Chad, Somalia and Lebanon. But I soon realized that it wasn’t quite what I was looking for, or what I wanted to do. So I went to Vietnam as an audiovisual attaché, where I worked on a number of feature films. I even worked for Vietnamese television, notably on the creation of the country’s first TV game show. It may seem a long way from engineering training at first glance, but in fact, it is also akin to project management.»
After six years in Vietnam, Michael embarked on a somewhat crazy challenge: to build a 60- ton Chinese junk and sail it from Hô Chi Minh- Ville (formerly, <1975, Saigon) to Saint Malo. I started building the boat when I was 26, in 1996 » recalls Michael. My engineering background training proved useful, as I was more at ease with the construction of the ship and the mechanical aspects of these old boats. This became the Saomai expedition (morning star in Vietnamese), and the documentary was broadcast in prime time on French TV, France‑2. It was an extraordinary two-year voyage, 1998 and 2000, with a crew of six to ten people taking turns on board. Remember that a junk is a boat without a motor, so we go where the wind takes us!
No sooner had he arrived in France, that Michael who felt he was an «extraterrestrial alien” set up a new expedition, «Portes d’Afrique» [Gateways to Africa]. “We spent two years exploring Africa’s major ports with writers and journalists» he explains. “We went in search of human stories, another view of this continent that was ill-known and barely loved. »
Michael then went on to produce films for the Tara project (the scientific exploration ship). A revelation for him: «And that was the moment I understood for the first time that the world was changing, while filming the scientists in front of me. And I said to myself that I personally had to offer something to the world. I set about securing prime time slots on the major TV networks, to reach people who didn’t care much about it, at first. Then I crossed the tracks of Yann Arthus Bertrand and produced ten films for him.”
This life record endowed Michael with an ecological awareness that has never dimmed his enthusiasm for the future, on the contrary: «Today, ecology is often seen as a set of constraints, whereas it provides, in fact, a set of opportunities. We now need to move away from our fears to embrace desires, and that, for me, typically represents the mindset of engineers and entrepreneurs. I see engineers as dreamers, a profession that predisposes them to this. When filming, I see people full of the desire to create, to think! Right now, I’m working on a project for France‑2, where we’ll be asking the question of what France might look like in 100 years’ time and I can assure you don’t see a bleak future at all!»
While he places all his hopes in the engineering spirit, Michael has never regretted not becoming one: «My job is fabulous, you live a thousand lives by proxy, you get to meet some incredible people,» he smiles. “Two years ago, I was filming Pope Francis, and one fortnight later, I was in Bangladesh filming children cutting up scrapped ships on the shop-breakers’ beaches. A sight full of humanity, with so much to tell!»
MB
