His initial foray into directing after film school began with documentaries about music: Brackets, based on the texts of Samuel Beckett and William Burroughs, music by Steve Lacy. TMP - Chatelet about ‘Les Ballets Russes’ , ‘Parade’ by Erik Satie and the contemporary classical composer Georges Aperghis. ‘The Festival of Contemporary music- La Rochelle’ provided Philippe with the occasion to perform the Symphonic Poem for 100 Metronomes by Gyorgy Ligeti. He then worked for the Museum of Modern Art and The Centre Pompidou Paris upon his graduation, making documentaries on their many and varied exhibitions.
Philippe transitioned to music videos and won many awards (Victoires de la Musique in Paris, Cad’s, Brit’s and Mobo awards in London, German Dance Awards in Berlin). He has worked with such artists as Placebo, Roger Sanchez, Morcheeba, Youssou N’Dour, Texas, All Saints, Faithless, Ute Lemper, Hooverphonic, Shakedown… among others. Many of his videos have been screened at the American Cinematheque in Hollywood.
Music videos led to TV commercials. Philippe is a multi-awarded director (Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, London International Advertising Awards, New York Festival TV Advertising Awards, D&AD, BTAA Craft Awards, Clio Awards, Eurobest, Ciclope, Creative Circle…). His clients include Playstation, Apple, Adidas, Kia, BMW, Canal +, Sky TV… among others. His Peugeot Toys ad won twenty International awards and was the fourth most awarded ad in the world at the Gunn Report.
Philippe has made many charity films. In 2016, he wrote and directed a projectfor the CFCV, Feminist Collective against Rape: Laura_jsd90. It won Best Script at Eurobest Festival, Best Casting at Cristal award and Best Casting and Best Performance at London International Award. In 2017, Just another day for the English charity Age UK, in collaboration with Channel 4. In 2019, Addiction for Santé Publique France.
Philippe directed his first short film Le Tourbillon de la Vie in homage to François Truffaut. The Bridge had a theatrical release on 250 prints in Cinemas across England as an opener to Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown.
The Rope won Best Narrative and Grand Jury Prize at the One Reel – Seattle International Film Festival.
Another Chance for Roger Sanchez and Song to say goodbye for the band Placebo became iconic short films/music videos.
He contributed with Virginie Despentes and Jane Birkin to the book : ‘Placebo - Rock sur ordonnance’ by Thierry Desaules.
Philippe 30 minute short film Delicate Gravity starring Anne Parillaud and Yvan Attal was released at Cannes Film Festival and in the 14th Unifrance edition: French Cinema today in Russia. It won Jury Awards and Best of Festival Award at the Palm Springs International ShortFest Awards, Best Short & Best Foreign Film at Nevada City Film Festival 2013 and Audience Choice Award at Bermuda City film festival. It was selected for the Oscars and released on Canal+ and Amazon Prime US.
In 2015, he directed Everything’s Perfect for the 25X25 Saatchi Program: An Experiment in Film. It was screened at the MoMA in New York, at the TATE Modern and The British Film Institute in London.
Philippe has co-written two English-language feature films: The Briefest Second, then Starless, short listed at the Sundance Screenwriter’s lab 2014. He has co-written two French feature films: Elle était une fois (2018)and Expire (2022), currently in development. He is now adapting a french play into a ‘Psychological Horror’ film entitled Humaine (2023) and is developing several TV Projects.
He is a member of the DGA, Director’s Guild of America and is represented for films by UBBA in Paris and WME in Los Angeles.