Wednesday 30 January 2008

UPCOMING: Jean Rouch retrospective

There is a upcoming retrospective at the Seoul Cinematheque of the French documentary filmmaker and anthropologist Jean Rouch. The schedule is not yet announced, but they will be showing 14 Rouch films, 8 feature length and 6 shorts. We'll have to see how many have english subtitles. More info on Rouch is available at the following websites:
http://allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll and http://der.org/jean-rouch/content/index.php

The films are as follows:

BATAILLE SUR LE GRAND FLEUVE (1951)
LES MAITRES FOUS (1955)
MAMMY WATER (1956)
MOI, UN NOIR (1959)
LA PYRAMIDE HUMAINE (1961)
CHRONIQUE D'UN ETE (1960)
LA PUNITION (1965)
LA CHASSE AU LION A L'ARC (1965)
JAGUAR (1971)
UN LION NOMME L'AMERICAIN (1968)
PETIT A PETIT (1972)
TOUROU ET BITTI (1971)
HORENDI (1972)
BATEAU IVRE (1987)

The only Rouch film I have seen is CHRONIQUE D'UN ETE (CHRONICLE OF A SUMMER), one of the main films in the cinema verite tradition, which combined observational techniques with an explicit acknowledgment of the role of the filmmakers themselves. CHRONICLE OF A SUMMER famously concludes with the subjects watching themselves and commenting on the portrayal, followed by Rouch and co-director Edgar Morin talking about the filmmaking process. A great film and worthy of comparison with the other great New Wave films being made in France at the time. Highly recommended, and I imagine it is the film most likely to have english subtitles.

Keep an eye on the website for the schedule; the retrospective will be held February 21-29.

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