Jacqueline Veuve

Jacqueline Veuve (29 January 1930 – 18 April 2013) was a distinguished Swiss filmmaker celebrated for her contributions to ethnographic cinema, earning her the title of the "great lady of Swiss documentary film." In recognition of her impactful career, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 Swiss Film Prize.

Born Jacqueline Reber in Payerne, Switzerland, she was the child of Maurice Reber and Yvonne Reymond. Veuve pursued her studies in Lausanne before furthering her education at the School of Library and Information Science in Geneva (1952–1953). A pivotal moment in her career occurred in 1955 when she met renowned French filmmaker and ethnologist Jean Rouch while working on her diploma thesis at the Museum of Man in Paris.

Her directorial debut came in 1966 with the short film "Le Panier à viande," created alongside Swiss director Yves Yersin. In the 1970s, she collaborated with British documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, producing two impactful short films focused on the women's movement in the United States.

Veuve's notable works include a series on traditional woodcraft, featuring films like "Claude Lebet, luthier" (1988) and "Marcellin Babey, tourneur sur bois" (1989). Her first full-length documentary, "La Mort du grand-père ou Le Sommeil du juste," premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 1978. In total, she directed 14 feature-length films and over 60 short documentaries, many of which received international accolades.

Veuve founded Aquarius Films in 1974 and continued to create until her last documentary, "Vibrato," which debuted in 2012. She was married to Léopold Veuve in 1956 and was a devoted mother to two children.