Jean Rouch
Encyclopedia
Jean Rouch was a French
filmmaker and anthropologist.
He is considered to be one of the founders of the cinéma vérité
in France, which shared the aesthetics of the direct cinema
spearheaded by Richard Leacock
, D.A. Pennebaker and Albert and David Maysles
. 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. He would often repeat, "Glory to he who brings dispute."
n subjects in 1941 after working as civil engineer supervising a construction project in Niger
. However, shortly afterwards he returned to France
to participate in the Resistance
. After the war, he did a brief stint as a journalist with Agence France-Presse
before returning to Africa where he become an influential anthropologist and sometimes controversial filmmaker.
Jean Rouch is generally considered the father of Nigerien cinema. Despite arriving as a colonialist in 1941, Rouch remained in Niger after independence, and mentored a generation of Nigerien filmmakers and actors, including Damouré Zika
and Oumarou Ganda
.
Arriving in Niamey as a French colonial hydrology engineer in 1941, Rouch became interested in Zarma and Songhai ethnology and began to film local people and their rituals.
In the 1940s he met Damouré Zika
the son of a Songhai/Sorko traditional healer and fisherman, near the town of Ayorou on the Niger River
. After ten Sorko workers in a construction depot which Rouch supervised were killed by a lightning strike, Zika's grandmother, a famous possession medium and spiritual advisor, presided over a ritual for the men, which Rouch later claimed sparked his desire to make ethnographic film.
By 1950, Rouch had made the first films set in Niger with au pays des mages noirs (1947), l'initiation à la danse des possédés (1948) and Les magiciens de Wanzarbé (1949), all of which documented the spirit possession rituals of the Songhai, Zarma, and Sorko peoples living along the Niger river.
Damouré Zika and Rouch became friends, and Rouch began in 1950 to use Zika as the focus of his films demonstrating the traditions, culture, and ecology of the people of the Niger River valley. The first of 150 in which Zika appeared was "Bataille sur le grand fleuve" (1950–52), portraying the lives, ceremonies and hunting of Sorko fishermen. Rouch spent four months traveling with Sorko fishermen in a traditional Pirogue
filming the piece.
During the 1950s, Rouch began to produce longer, narrative films. In 1954 he filmed Damouré Zika in "Jaguar", as a young Songhai man traveling for work to the Gold Coast
. Filmed as a silent ethnographic piece, Zika helped re-edit the film into a feature length movie which stood somewhere between documentary and fiction, and provided dialog and commentary for a 1969 release. In 1957 Rouch directed in Côte d'Ivoire "Moi un noir" with the young Nigerien filmmaker Oumarou Ganda, who had recently returned from French military service in Indochina
. Ganda went on to become the first great Nigerien film director and actor. By the early 1970s, Rouch, with cast, crew, and cowriting from his Nigerien collaborators, was producing full length dramatic films in Niger, such as Petit à petit ("Little by Little" : 1971) and Cocorico Monsieur Poulet ("Cocka-doodle-doo Mr. Chicken": 1974).
Still, many of the ethnographic films produced in the colonial era by Jean Rouch and others were rejected by African film makers because in their view they distorted African realities.
He is considered as one the pioneers of Nouvelle Vague, of visual anthropology
and the father of ethnofiction
. Rouch's films mostly belonged to the cinéma vérité
school – a term that Edgar Morin
used in a 1960 France-Observateur article referring to Dziga Vertov's
Kinopravda. His best known film, one of the central works of the Nouvelle Vague, is Chronique d'un été
(1961) which he filmed with sociologist Edgar Morin
and in which he portrays the social life of contemporary France. Throughout his career, he used his camera to report on life in Africa
. Over the course of five decades, he made almost 120 films.
With Jean-Michel Arnold
he founded the international documentary film festival, the Cinéma du Réel
at the Pompidou Centre in Paris in 1978.
He died in an automobile accident in February 2004, some 16 kilometres from the town of Birni-N'Konni
, Niger.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
filmmaker and anthropologist.
He is considered to be one of the founders of the cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
in France, which shared the aesthetics of the direct cinema
Direct Cinema
Direct Cinema is a documentary genre that originated between 1958 and 1962 in North America, principally in the Canadian province of Quebec and the United States...
spearheaded by Richard Leacock
Richard Leacock
Richard Leacock was a British-born documentary film director and one of the pioneers of Direct Cinema and Cinéma vérité.-Early life and career:...
, D.A. Pennebaker and Albert and David Maysles
Albert and David Maysles
Albert and David Maysles were a documentary filmmaking team whose cinéma vérité works include Salesman , Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens . Their 1964 film on The Beatles forms the backbone of the DVD, The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit...
. 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
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
in his early twenties, many of his films blur the line between fiction and documentary, creating a new style of ethnofiction
Ethnofiction
Ethnofiction is a neologism which refers to an ethnographic docufiction sub-genre, a blend of documentary and fiction film in the area of visual anthropology. It is a film style in which the portrayed characters play their own roles as members of an ethnic or social group.Jean Rouch is considered...
. He was also hailed by the French New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
as one of theirs. His seminal film Me a Black (Moi un Noir) pioneered the technique of jump cut
Jump cut
A jump cut is a cut in film editing and vloging in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit causes the subject of the shots to appear to "jump" position in a discontinuous way...
popularized by Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
. Godard said of Rouch in the Cahiers du Cinéma
Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du Cinéma is an influential French film magazine founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. It developed from the earlier magazine Revue du Cinéma involving members of two Paris film clubs — Objectif 49 and...
(Notebooks on Cinema) n°94 April 1959, "In charge of research for the Musée de l'Homme
Musée de l'Homme
The Musée de l'Homme was created in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. It is the descendant of the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro, founded in 1878...
(French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, "Museum of Man") Is there a better definition for a filmmaker?" Along his career, Rouch was no stranger to controversy. He would often repeat, "Glory to he who brings dispute."
Biography
He began his long association with AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n subjects in 1941 after working as civil engineer supervising a construction project in Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
. However, shortly afterwards he returned to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to participate in the Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
. After the war, he did a brief stint as a journalist with Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
before returning to Africa where he become an influential anthropologist and sometimes controversial filmmaker.
Jean Rouch is generally considered the father of Nigerien cinema. Despite arriving as a colonialist in 1941, Rouch remained in Niger after independence, and mentored a generation of Nigerien filmmakers and actors, including Damouré Zika
Damouré Zika
Damouré Zika was a Nigerien traditional healer, broadcaster, and film actor. Coming from a long line of traditional healers in the Sorko ethnic group of western Niger, Zika appeared in many of the films of French director Jean Rouch, becoming one of Niger's first actors...
and Oumarou Ganda
Oumarou Ganda
Oumarou Ganda was a Nigerien director and actor who brought African cinema to international attention in the 1960s and 1970s.- Life :...
.
Arriving in Niamey as a French colonial hydrology engineer in 1941, Rouch became interested in Zarma and Songhai ethnology and began to film local people and their rituals.
In the 1940s he met Damouré Zika
Damouré Zika
Damouré Zika was a Nigerien traditional healer, broadcaster, and film actor. Coming from a long line of traditional healers in the Sorko ethnic group of western Niger, Zika appeared in many of the films of French director Jean Rouch, becoming one of Niger's first actors...
the son of a Songhai/Sorko traditional healer and fisherman, near the town of Ayorou on the Niger River
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
. After ten Sorko workers in a construction depot which Rouch supervised were killed by a lightning strike, Zika's grandmother, a famous possession medium and spiritual advisor, presided over a ritual for the men, which Rouch later claimed sparked his desire to make ethnographic film.
By 1950, Rouch had made the first films set in Niger with au pays des mages noirs (1947), l'initiation à la danse des possédés (1948) and Les magiciens de Wanzarbé (1949), all of which documented the spirit possession rituals of the Songhai, Zarma, and Sorko peoples living along the Niger river.
Damouré Zika and Rouch became friends, and Rouch began in 1950 to use Zika as the focus of his films demonstrating the traditions, culture, and ecology of the people of the Niger River valley. The first of 150 in which Zika appeared was "Bataille sur le grand fleuve" (1950–52), portraying the lives, ceremonies and hunting of Sorko fishermen. Rouch spent four months traveling with Sorko fishermen in a traditional Pirogue
Pirogue
A pirogue is a small, flat-bottomed boat of a design associated particularly with the Cajuns of the Louisiana marsh. In West Africa they were used as traditional fishing boats. These boats are not usually intended for overnight travel but are light and small enough to be easily taken onto land...
filming the piece.
During the 1950s, Rouch began to produce longer, narrative films. In 1954 he filmed Damouré Zika in "Jaguar", as a young Songhai man traveling for work to the Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
. Filmed as a silent ethnographic piece, Zika helped re-edit the film into a feature length movie which stood somewhere between documentary and fiction, and provided dialog and commentary for a 1969 release. In 1957 Rouch directed in Côte d'Ivoire "Moi un noir" with the young Nigerien filmmaker Oumarou Ganda, who had recently returned from French military service in Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
. Ganda went on to become the first great Nigerien film director and actor. By the early 1970s, Rouch, with cast, crew, and cowriting from his Nigerien collaborators, was producing full length dramatic films in Niger, such as Petit à petit ("Little by Little" : 1971) and Cocorico Monsieur Poulet ("Cocka-doodle-doo Mr. Chicken": 1974).
Still, many of the ethnographic films produced in the colonial era by Jean Rouch and others were rejected by African film makers because in their view they distorted African realities.
He is considered as one the pioneers of Nouvelle Vague, of visual anthropology
Visual anthropology
Visual anthropology is a subfield of cultural anthropology that is concerned, in part, with the study and production of ethnographic photography, film and, since the mid-1990s, new media...
and the father of ethnofiction
Ethnofiction
Ethnofiction is a neologism which refers to an ethnographic docufiction sub-genre, a blend of documentary and fiction film in the area of visual anthropology. It is a film style in which the portrayed characters play their own roles as members of an ethnic or social group.Jean Rouch is considered...
. Rouch's films mostly belonged to the cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
school – a term that Edgar Morin
Edgar Morin
Edgar Morin is a French philosopher and sociologist born Edgar Nahoum in Paris on July 8, 1921. He is of Judeo-Spanish origin. He is known for the transdisciplinarity of his works.- Biography :...
used in a 1960 France-Observateur article referring to Dziga Vertov's
Dziga Vertov
David Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist...
Kinopravda. His best known film, one of the central works of the Nouvelle Vague, is Chronique d'un été
Chronique d'un été
Chronique d'un été is a documentary film made during the summer of 1960 by sociologist Edgar Morin and anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch, with the esthetic collaboration of director cameraman Michel Brault. The film begins with a discussion between Rouch and Morin on whether or not it is...
(1961) which he filmed with sociologist Edgar Morin
Edgar Morin
Edgar Morin is a French philosopher and sociologist born Edgar Nahoum in Paris on July 8, 1921. He is of Judeo-Spanish origin. He is known for the transdisciplinarity of his works.- Biography :...
and in which he portrays the social life of contemporary France. Throughout his career, he used his camera to report on life in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Over the course of five decades, he made almost 120 films.
With Jean-Michel Arnold
Jean-Michel Arnold
Jean-Michel Arnold, General Secretary of the Cinémathèque Française, vice President of UNESCO’s IFTC , founder of the Cinéma du Réel, Director of CNRS Image/Media, General Secretary of RIAVS, and President of CAMERA. Without being a filmmaker, Mr...
he founded the international documentary film festival, the Cinéma du Réel
Cinéma du Réel
Cinéma du Réel is an international documentary film festival organized by the BPI-Bibliothèque publique d'information in Paris and was founded in 1978. The festival presents about 200 films per year in several sections by experienced documentary directors as well as first timers...
at the Pompidou Centre in Paris in 1978.
He died in an automobile accident in February 2004, some 16 kilometres from the town of Birni-N'Konni
Birni-N'Konni
Birni-N'Konni is a town in Niger, lying on the border of Nigeria and the Kori River. It is an important market town and transport hub and the 2001 census had a population of 44,663. The town is the historic center of the small pre-colonial Hausa state of Konni...
, Niger.
Main films
- 1949: Initiation à la danse des possédés
- 1950: Cimetière dans la falaise
- 1953: Les Fils de l'eau
- 1955: Les Maîtres FousLes Maîtres FousLes maîtres fous is a short film directed by Jean Rouch, a well-known French film director and ethnologist. It is a docufiction, his first ethnofiction, genre of which he is considered to be the creator.-Historical background:...
(The Mad Masters) - 1955: Jaguar
- 1955: Mammy Water
- 1958: Moi, un noirMoi, un noirMoi, un noir is a 1958 French ethnofiction film directed by Jean Rouch. The film is set in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. It won the 1958 Louis Delluc Prize....
- 1959: La pyramide humaine
- 1960: Chronique d'un étéChronique d'un étéChronique d'un été is a documentary film made during the summer of 1960 by sociologist Edgar Morin and anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch, with the esthetic collaboration of director cameraman Michel Brault. The film begins with a discussion between Rouch and Morin on whether or not it is...
(Chronicle of a Summer) - 1965: La chasse au lion à l'arc
- 1966: Sigui année zero
- 1967: Sigui: l'enclume de Yougo
- 1968: Sigui 1968: Les danseurs de Tyogou
- 1969: Sigui 1969: La caverne de Bongo
- 1970: Sigui 1970: Les clameurs d'Amani
- 1971: Sigui 1971: La dune d'Idyeli
- 1972: Sigui 1972: Les pagnes de lame
- 1973: Sigui 1973: L'auvent de la circonsion
- 1974: Cocorico M. Poulet
- 1976: Babatu
- 1977: Ciné-portrait de Margaret Mead
- 1979: Bougo, les funérailles du vieil Anaï
- 1984: Dionysos
- 2002: Le rêve plus fort que la mort co-directed with Bernard Surugue
External links
- The Jean Rouch Tribute Website: bio, tributes, complete filmography, audio, film clips
- Jean Rouch at The Complete Index To World Film since 1895
- Jean Rouch's biography in French The website of the Comité du film ethnographique of which Jean Rouch was the founder at the Musée de l'HommeMusée de l'HommeThe Musée de l'Homme was created in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. It is the descendant of the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro, founded in 1878...
. - International Jean Rouch SYMPOSIUM (Society of Visual Anthropology)
- A WEBSITE DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF JEAN ROUCH'S FILMS