Pierre Carles was born in 1962 in Gironde. He spent part of his childhood and adolescence in Chile and Colombia with his mother, a teacher in French schools. He returned to France in the late 1970s and studied socio-cultural animation, then journalism.
He worked in television from 1988, first as a news cameraman for France 3 Régions, then as a columnist or author of humorous subjects in variety shows (TF1, France 2, Canal +, M6). From 1993, he made short documentaries for the Belgian-French show Strip-tease (France 3) and for the magazine Brut (ARTE).
In 1998, he created a production company in Montpellier, with around ten audiovisual and cinema workers involved in the production of his first feature film, Pas vu pas pris, including producer Annie Gonzalez. From 1998 to 2020, he directed or co-directed around ten feature-length documentaries for the cinema, which deal with media criticism (Pas vu pas pris, 1998; Enfin pris?, 2002; Fin de concession, 2010; Les Ânes ont soif, 2004), the questioning of wage labor and the possibility of living differently (Attention danger travail, 2003; Volem rien foutre al païs, 2007), armed struggle (Ni vieux, ni traîtres, 2006)...
He is also the author of filmed portraits of singular personalities such as Professor Choron (Choron dernière, 2008, with Éric Martin) or Pierre Bourdieu, whom he followed for three years to produce La sociologie est un sport de combat (2001). Through the exchanges of the great researcher with colleagues, journalists or activists, the profound nature of sociological practice and its critical potential are expressed.