After studying journalism and law in Paris, de Lestrade created his own TV news agency, Tribulations, in 1987. He directed and produced, within Tribulations, during five years, and reported for European television. In 1992, he became a freelance director to be able to specialise in making documentaries which scrutinizes the mechanisms of society, mainly its taboos and its justice. Sexual crime , his ninth documentary feature film, won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2002.
