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An IÉSEG graduate from the Class of 2018, Hélène CLOITRE has made her environmental convictions the driving force of her career. After a professional experience in a large retail group, she shifted towards social entrepreneurship, before co-founding the association “Séisme” and co-producing the engaged documentary “Ruptures“, released in 2021. She has recently co-directed the documentary film film “Éclaireurs”, which premiered in Paris on November 6, 2025.

Hélène tells us about her journey, the making of this documentary, and how her studies supported her professional choices.

“I was no longer aligned with my professional life”

After completing her studies at IÉSEG, Hélène Cloitre began her professional journey like many young graduates: by joining a large retail corporation. The experience proved to be formative, within a supportive team and alongside a manager she particularly appreciated. Yet despite this positive environment, a deep sense of discomfort gradually emerged.

Hélène began to experience an ethical conflict: the difficulty of launching environmental initiatives, frustration with an industry that she felt was “exacerbating social inequalities,” and everyday situations that increasingly troubled her. “I started asking myself whether I truly wanted to contribute to this system,” she explains.

This realization led her to resign and « 28% – conserverie anti-gaspillage », an anti-waste organization that transforms surplus fruits and vegetables destined for disposal, in partnership with food banks. It was at this point that director Arthur Gosset decided to follow her journey for the documentary Ruptures.

“Ruptures achieved a national success we had never expected,” Hélène recalls. “There were over 900 screenings in total.” At the time, the team did not yet have a legal structure to manage screening rights, which led them to create the association Séisme in order to meet the growing demand. 

With the funds raised, the team launched an original initiative: the Forum Séisme, dedicated to sustainable career orientation. For the past three years, the forum has been held annually in Rennes, bringing together around 6,000 participants each year, including 4,000 students and more than 100 committed organizations.

Rethinking engagement: “Changing paths is a privilege not available to everyone”

While Ruptures highlighted young graduates choosing to radically change direction, Hélène explains that an important nuance emerged through their encounters: many young people simply do not have the financial or social conditions required to leave their jobs and completely reorient their careers. “Ruptures tells our personal story, but it was never meant to represent all young people,” she notes.

This reflection marked a turning point. The team decided to explore all forms of engagement, including those taking place within organizations themselves. The focus shifted to individuals who cannot create a “rupture” with their profession but still wish—and are able—to take action where they already are, within their everyday working lives.

Éclaireurs: a documentary about transforming work from within

“Éclaireurs is a natural continuation of Ruptures,” explains the young director. “Not everyone can commit by leaving their job entirely. So we asked ourselves: is it possible to take action when you are a factory worker, a police officer, a sales assistant, a PhD student—when you face very different realities? Is it possible to challenge organizations from the inside? And ultimately, don’t we sometimes have a greater impact by driving change internally?”

These questions led Hélène and her team to follow, over a three-year period, a police officer in Limoges, a sales assistant in a DIY store in Quimper, a building-sector documentalist in Saint-Brieuc, and a business leader in Paris. The film explores their successes, doubts and levers for action, while also shedding light on sectors already deeply affected by climate challenges, such as construction, automotive, agriculture, healthcare and insurance.

Hélène and her team became increasingly aware that the professional world is bound to undergo profound transformations in response to environmental risks and challenges—resource scarcity, access to water, extreme heat, energy issues, and more—across all sectors. What began as a reflection on individual commitment evolved into a broader societal issue.

A creative process unlike any other

For this film, the production team embraced a distinctive approach: spontaneous filming without a predefined script, guided by real-life situations and raw emotions. The result was over 150 hours of footage for a one-hour documentary, and more than eight months of full-time editing, carried out in close collaboration with TV5MONDE, co-producer of the film.

“We do things a little differently from what is usually done in the audiovisual industry. We draw on the codes of documentary filmmaking while working with a journalistic approach. We followed people over the long term, capturing emotions, lived experiences and everyday moments. We couldn’t write the script in advance, because each shoot was unpredictable and uncertain — which was essential to remain as authentic as possible and stay close to our protagonists,” Hélène adds.

In terms of distribution, Séisme Productions aims to reach a wide range of audiences in order to spark collective reflection. “Our three main targets are higher education institutions, companies—including public-sector organizations—and the general public, through cinemas,” she explains. The goal is to encourage everyone to question the environmental impact of their job and explore how they can engage through their everyday work.

“IÉSEG gave me both security and the right reflexes to launch a project”

Reflecting on her years at IÉSEG, Hélène Cloitre emphasizes how valuable they have been, despite her later “rupture” with her first job. “An IÉSEG degree gives me the reassurance that if this project were to fail, I would be able to find a job again. That sense of security makes it easier to take risks that would otherwise feel impossible,” she explains.

She also highlights the importance of her Master’s degree in entrepreneurship: “It was extremely helpful when launching the association. I developed strong project management skills and gained solid foundations in accounting and legal matters. Today, as a business leader, I also realize how much I learned about human resources, which is invaluable for managing teams.”

Finally, she underlines the impact of her international experiences during her studies, which helped broaden her environmental awareness by exposing her to different challenges and realities around the world.