Born 1954 in Paris.  Nationality: French.
Mathematics and physics studies.

Former engineer and scientific researcher.
Graduated EAVE-Europe in 1992.
 

From 1974 to 1981, Philippe Avril worked as a journalist and cinema critic. He shot and produced a first full-length film in 1979, "Estrasburgo de Chile".
In 1989 he founded in Strasbourg a first production film company ('Les Films De L'Observatoire') mainly developing creative documentaries and soon focused on international co-productions (documentaries, feature films) for cinema and television and based in Strasbourg and Paris (France).
Since 2002, Philippe Avril is co-producing internationally art-house films and likes to discover and coach new talents.

Lecturing at the Marc Bloch University (Strasbourg) from 2001 to 2009, intervening regularly in international workshops and training courses in France and Europe, Philippe Avril has been the French national co-ordinator of the Media Programme EAVE (European Audio-Visual Entrepreneurs) from 1997 to 2011. He created in 2014 the Strasbourg University Master 2 Pro entitled: ‘International Co-Production of Audio-Visual and Cinema Works’, being the Head of Studies of from 2014 to 2016. He is now developing the project of a 2-years new Master of Production to begin in 2018.

Philippe Avril’s early international co-productions were with Central and Eastern European filmmakers: Dušan Hának (Paper Heads, 1994, Slovakia), Petr Václav (Marian, 1996, Czech Republic), Valdas Navasaitis (Kiemas 1999, Lithuania), Bakhtyiar Khudojnazarov (Luna Papa, 1999, Tajikistan).
Since 1997, he explored co-productions with Asian filmmakers: Park Kwang-su (The Uprising, 1997, South-Korea), Aoyama Shinji (Eureka, 2000, Japan), Garin Nugroho (A Poet, 2001, Indonesia), Sabiha Sumar (Khamosh Pani/Silent Waters, 2003, Pakistan), Vimukthi Jayasundara (The Forsaken Land, 2005, Sri Lanka, Between Two Worlds, 2009, Sri Lanka, Chatrak [Mushrooms], 2011, India, Dark in the White Light, 2015, Sri Lanka), Murali Nair (Virgin Goat, 2010, India), Wang Bing (The Ditch, 2010, China), Pepe Diokno (Above The Clouds, 2014, Philippines) and Katsuya Tomita (Bangkok Nites, 2016, Japan).
Since the 2000’s, he co-produced also Middle-East and African filmmakers: Monika Borgmann & Lokman Slim (Massaker, 2005, Tadmor, 2016, Lebanon), Haile Gerima (Teza, 2008, Ethiopia), Malek Bensmaïl (China is Still Far, 2009, Algeria), Licínio Azevedo (The Train of Salt and Sugar, 2016, Mozambique).
French and European co-productions include on the other hand: Juventude em Marcha (Colossal Youth), by Pedro Costa (Portugal, 2006), La Fine del Mare, by Nora Hoppe (Germany, 2006), Welcome to Bataville, by François Caillat (France, 2007), The Day Will Come, by Susanne Schneider (Germany, 2009), The End of Silence, by Roland Edzard (France, 2011), The Fifth Season, by Peter Brosens & Jessica Woodworth (Belgium, 2012), Left Foot Right Foot, by Germinal Roaux (Switzerland, 2013) and Between 10 and 12, by Peter Hoogendoorn (The Netherlands, 2014).