André Laban (1928-2018)

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АлександрД

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André Laban, filmmaker and former second of the Cousteau society, has died | The Koz Post
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The diver, a painter and filmmaker André Laban, who had been for 21 years, the second, jacques Cousteau, died at the age of 90, on Thursday announced its family to the AFP in a press release.

“My father died on Wednesday of old age, Saint-Antonin Noble-Val (Tarn-et-Garonne), told AFP his son, John Brown, reached by telephone.

André Laban, born in 1928, had taken on as a chemical engineer aboard the Calypso in 1952. This meeting was signing the beginning of a collaboration of 21 years of age with the captain Jean-Yves Cousteau.

Great do-it-yourselfer, the diver in marseille designs and manufactures “the first 35 mm camera” PVC in 1954, equipped with a case resistant to the pressure and the protector of the light.

It is with this camera as the “World of silence”, directed by Louis Malle, is turned. The film is a triumph : he received in 1956 the Palme d’or at Cannes and the Oscar for best documentary.

Director of the French Office of research sub-marines from 1956 to 1966, André Laban still collaborates with Cousteau for the realization of two films, before a break in the early 1970s for financial reasons.

The amateur comedy launches in a cinema in a new vein, intended to “bring a smile”: he wants to make films in which the images would be highlighted by the music and sound effects.

A successful bet as the director received the Palme d’or at the festival mondial de l’image sous-marine with “Iris and Oniris” (1996) or even the humour award at the festival of Antibes with the documentary “Neptunia” (2007).

In his last years, André Laban cultivated his passion for the Big Blue, especially via the paint – all in shades of blue, of course.

“Having made dives out of the cabin, he felt the need to recreate what the human eye perceives”, explain to her children, in a statement, recalling that their father had invented the paint under the water in 1966, when he began to paint between 15 and 25 m deep.

“My rating is low, but when I’m dead…”, joked in 2016, the inveterate prankster, at a meeting with the AFP.

The family of the filmmaker, organized a memorial non-religious Saturday at 11: 00 am, at the crematorium of Montauban. The ceremony is open to the public.

Andre Laban | International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame

How many people love Vintage Equipment Diving ?
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Sad news. Growing in front of a tv set in the 70's had made all Calypso members family friends. RIP.
 
One of my great regrets in life was losing a scrap of paper with a note from André Laban. I was a high school senior attending a conference in San Diego. I took a bay cruise when a voice came over the PA system pointing out that Cousteau's Calypso was off the port side at a local shipyard. I got in a cab (my first ride in a taxi cab) and had him take me there. I strolled past the shipyard's gate guard like I belonged there and wondered the docks until I found her.

I walked aboard the gang plank and was unchallenged for about five minutes. André Laban came up behind me and asked if he could help. I recognized him immediately and basically said something to the effect that I followed him since I was 10 years old and would love to see the ship. He scribbled something in French on a small scrap of paper, signed it, and said something like "be careful".

I went everywhere except into staterooms -- down into the observation tube bolted onto the bow, aft hold, bridge, galley, salon, and engine room. The Sea Flea submersibles were in a nearby shed with some of the cowlings removed for maintenance. That is the same trip when I met Bev Morgan. Pretty exciting for a diving-obsessed teenager.
 
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