Jean Rouch
Biography
Jean Rouch (French: [ʁuʃ]; 31 May 1917, Paris – 18 February 2004, Niger) was a French filmmaker and anthropologist.
He is considered to be one of the founders of cinéma-vérité in France, which shared the aesthetics of the direct cinema. Rouch's practice as a filmmaker for over sixty years in Africa, was characterized by the idea of shared anthropology. Influenced by his discovery of surrealism in his early twenties, many of his films blur the line between fiction and documentary, creating a new style of ethnofiction. He was also hailed by the French New Wave as one of theirs. His seminal film Me a Black (Moi, un noir) pioneered the technique of jump cut popularized by Jean-Luc Godard. Godard said of Rouch in the Cahiers du Cinéma (Notebooks on Cinema) n°94 April 1959, "In charge of research for the Musée de l'Homme (French, "Museum of Man") Is there a better definition for a filmmaker?" Along his career, Rouch was no stranger to controversy.
Filmography
Outlaw
2025
as Self
L’Enigma di Jean Rouch a Torino - Cronaca di un film raté
2017
My Conversations on Film
2013
as Himself
Freddy Buache, le cinéma
2012
as Self (archive footage)
- No poster
Maya Deren, Take Zero
2012
as Himself
Jean Epstein, Young Oceans of Cinema
2011
as Self (archive footage)
The Dreamed Films
2010
as Self
Portrait de Jean Rouch
2004
as Self
Jean Rouch, des mensonges plus vrais que la réalité
2004
as Lui-même
Encountering Jean Rouch
2003
- No poster
Mon père c'est un lion - Jean Rouch pour mémoire
2002
as Self
Nouvelle Vague : El cine sin dogmas
2000
as Self
Cinéma, de notre temps: Mosso, mosso (Jean Rouch comme si...)
1999
as Himself
Ciguri - Tarahumaras 99 - Le dernier chaman
1999
as narrador
Pierre Fatumbi Verger: Messenger Between Two Worlds
1998
as Self
Ciguri – Tarahumaras 98 - La Danse Du Peyotl
1998
as Narrator
A Friendly Handshake
1997
Son of Gascogne
1995
as Self
- No poster
Rouch in Reverse
1995
as himself
Germaine chez elle
1994
as himself
- No poster
Cinéma! Cinéma! The French New Wave
1992
as Self
An Egg with No Shell
1992
Letter to Jean Rouch
1992
as Self
Jean Rouch: First Film 1947-1991
1991
as Himself