[2] His father Bernard Reichenbach was a successful businessman and his mother Germaine Angèle Sarah Monteux had a passion for music, which she passed on to young François.

His maternal grandfather Gaston Monteux was a wealthy industrialist: he was one of the first to buy paintings by Chagall, Braque, Picasso, Soutine, Utrillo and Modigliani.

[7] In 1957, he directed his first short film, The Marines, about an elite American unit, which imposed a new style through the impression of truth, the nerve and the originality of the gaze.

[9] The filmmaker François Reichenbach with Zino Davidoff in Geneva (1984) This bulimic of images films tirelessly what he observes according to his inspiration and his wanderings.

He has made more than a hundred documentaries, alternating between France, the United States and Mexico, with a very personal filmography and artistic reports close to journalism.

He has made a wide variety of portraits, including the film-maker Orson Welles, musicians Yehudi Menuhin, Arthur Rubinstein, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Manitas de Plata, popular artists such as Johnny Hallyday, Sylvie Vartan, Barbara, Mireille Mathieu, Diane Dufresne, Vince Taylor, soccer players Pelé and Pascal Olmeta, the matador El Cordobés, the sculptor Arman, the guitarist Manitas de Plata, the painter Marguerite Dunoyer de Segonzac, the cigar merchant Zino Davidoff, the conductor Herbert von Karajan, and the actresses Jeanne Moreau and Brigitte Bardot.

[10] François Reichenbach is also the author of the scopitone (the ancestor of the video clip) of Bonnie and Clyde (1967) sung by Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot.

Then, François Reichenbach received the Oscar for best documentary film in 1970 for L'Amour de la vie - Artur Rubinstein.