Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (born 1 July 1963) is a French writer, director and producer of films and television series. He is especially known for his documentaries that have explored criminal cases in the United States, most notably in his 2004 miniseries The Staircase.
Early life and education Lestrade was born in Mirande, Gers, in southwestern France. He studied law and journalism in Paris. He has drawn from these to inform making film documentaries that scrutinize the mechanisms of society, particularly justice systems.
Career After college, Lestrade started working in journalism.
In 1992 Lestrade started making documentaries. He won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for his ninth film, Murder on a Sunday Morning (2001). It was about the Brenton Butler case in Jacksonville, Florida. A 15-year-old African-American youth was wrongfully arrested and tried for murder of a woman tourist. He was acquitted.
Several months later, another suspect was investigated and prosecuted by law enforcement. A jury convicted him for murder of Mary Stephens. Evidence included his fingerprint on her handbag, which had been recovered.
Lestrade is also known for his limited series The Staircase (2004), about the murder trial of author Michael Peterson of Durham, North Carolina. He was charged with killing his wife Kathleen. He produced two followups to the original series, chronicling Peterson's appeals and retrial, one in 2012 and one in 2018.
Lestrade is an executive producer for the TV series Sin City Law (2007), which has been shown on the Sundance Channel in the US.
His dramatic miniseries Laetitia (2020), based on the murder case of Laetitia Perrais of Nantes, France, was first aired on French TV in 2020. It aired on HBO and HBO Max in late August 2021.
While most of his documentaries were in English, in 2023, he directed the six-part true crime series Sambre - Anatomy of a Crime, which was produced in French.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1989 Beauty Parlor Cinematographer Short 1995 La cavale des innocents Director TV movie1998 Une Australie blanche et pure Director, Writer & Cinematographer TV movieFestival International de Programmes Audiovisuels - Reports and Social Issues La vie jusqu'au boutDirector TV movie Des enfants plein d'espoir TV movie 1999 D'un amour à l'autre TV movie2001 La justice des hommes Director & Producer TV movieAlbert Londres Prize - Audio-Visual Murder on a Sunday Morning Director DocumentaryAcademy Award for Best Documentary FeatureChristopher Award - Television & CablePrix Italia - Documentary - Current Affairs 2002 Madame la principale Producer TV movie2003 Qui a tué Cécile Bloch ? Writer & Executive Producer Documentary Un rêve algérien Producer Documentary2004 Soupçons Director, Writer & Cinematographer TV mini-seriesInternational Documentary Association - Limited Series L'affaire Dubois Writer & Executive producer TV movie Avant les assises, une affaire de violExecutive producer Documentary Avant les assises, une affaire de meurtre Documentary 2006 L'aventure MSF Producer TV mini-series 2007 How Much Is Your Life Worth ? Executive producer TV movie2008 Sur ta joue ennemie Director, Producer & Writer Sin City Law Writer & Producer TV series (2 episodes)International Documentary Association - Limited Series 2009 Hors Série Director, Producer & Writer TV series (1 episode)2010 Cigarettes et bas nylon Producer TV movie FBI : Police d'Etat Co-Producer TV series (1 episode) 2011 Un si long voyage Executive producer Documentary 2012 La disparition Director, Writer & Producer TV movie 2013 The Staircase II: The Last Chance Director, Writer & Executive producer Documentary2014 3xManon Director & Writer TV mini-seriesFestival International de Programmes Audiovisuels - FictionFrench Syndicate of Cinema Critics - Best Television Series InfrarougeDirector TV series (1 episode) 2015 Malaterra TV mini-series 2016 Infrarouge Producer TV series (1 episode) 2023 Sambre - Anatomy of a Crime Director TV series (6 episodes)
References
External links
BBC interview, January 2005