French filmmaker Claire Denis was BOTD in 1946. Born in Paris, she was raised in French colonial Africa where her father was a civil servant, living in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, French Somaliland and Senegal. She returned to Paris in her late teens, and was briefly married to a photographer who encouraged her to become a filmmaker. After studying at Paris’ prestigious La Fémis, she became an assistant director for Jacques Rivette, Jim Jarmusch and notably Wim Wenders, with whom she worked on Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire. Her 1988 debut feature Chocolat, drawing on her African childhood, was highly acclaimed. She is best known for her 1999 film Beau Travail a loose adaptation of Herman Melville‘s homoerotic novella Billy Budd, re-set in a French Foreign Legion garrison in Djibouti, and featuring extracts from Benjamin Britten‘s opera of the same name. Praised for its dreamlike intensity and forensic examination of repressed (homo)sexuality, it is widely considered one of the best films of the 20th century. Her other films include the horror film Trouble Every Day; Vendredi Soir (Friday Night), a melodrama about two strangers having a one-night stand; and the existential sci-fi film High Life. Her 2022 film Stars at Noon, a sultry love story set in Nicaragua won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Festival. Elegantly guarded about her personal life, Denis’ sexuality and relationship status are unknown. She earns La SuperGay Honoraire status for her fearless exploration of human sexuality in all its many perversities.