Cyril Houplain

Cyril Houplain, also known by his street artist pseudonym CHO, first gained attention by planting mini French flags in dog poop. Director, illustrator, and artistic director, he graduated from ESAG (Met de Penninghen). He co-created the visual identity of the artist -M-, designed the characters and visual world of Le Soldat Rose, and co-founded the H5 collective. Cyril has worked with artists such as Zazie, Thomas Dutronc, Diams, Arthur H, Jenifer, M Pokora, Tété, Oxmo Puccino, Nekfeu, Screw, LEJ, Louane, Benabar, Claudio Capéo, Patrick Fiori, and Stromae. As author-illustrator, he has published Le Soldat Rose (2006 – Hachette), Bout de ficelle (2008 – Gautier Languereau), Fourmi (2017 – Milan Editions), and Pépite (2019 – Milan Editions).

As a writer-director, he is supported by Le Groupe Ouest for the development of his animated feature film Pépite, produced by Cinéma Defacto. In 2011, he wrote and directed the animated mini-series La Ficelle (6×3′) for Canal+, produced by Un Monde Meilleur. He also served as artistic director for the feature films Zaï Zaï Zaï by Fabcaro & François Desagnat, and Julia by Olivier Treiner.

Pépite

Sélection Annuelle 2022

Co-written with Marcel Beaulieu

Pépite is the story of an encounter between Pépite, a golden ant, and Alistair, a young runaway who dreams of becoming a composer. They come to depend on each other to achieve their goals. Pépite has to follow Alistair to return home, while the teenager wants to exploit the insect’s extraordinary artistic talent to become famous. Pépite becomes his muse, and success follows. But things aren’t that simple, Pépite is a wild queen at heart—she’s not used to being told what to do