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.

Directed

1. Chronicle of a Summer (1961) — Director
2. The Mad Masters (1955) — Director
3. I, a Negro (1959) — Director
4. Six in Paris (1965) — Director
5. The Human Pyramid (1961) — Director
6. Little by Little (1970) — Director
7. The Lion Hunters (1966) — Director
8. Jaguar (1967) — Director
9. Cock-A-Doodle-Doo! Mr Chicken (1974) — Director
10. Drums from the Past (1971) — Director
11. In the Land of the Black Magi (1947) — Director
12. Sigui 1971: The Dune of Idyeli (1971) — Director
13. Mammy Water (1953) — Director
14. The Fifteen-Year-Old Widows (1964) — Director
15. Horendi (1972) — Director
16. Dionysos (1984) — Director
17. The Punishment (1962) — Director
18. Madame l'eau (1993) — Director
19. Brise-glace (1990) — Director
20. Gare du Nord (1965) — Director
21. Cemeteries in the Cliff (1951) — Director
22. Battle on the Great River (1950) — Director
23. Moro Naba (1958) — Director
24. The Goumbé of the Young Revelers (1966) — Director
25. VW-Voyou (1973) — Director
26. Babatou, Three Pieces of Advice (1976) — Director
27. Un lion nommé l'Américain (1972) — Director
28. Makwayela (1977) — Director
29. Circumcision (1949) — Director
30. The Rainmakers (1951) — Director
31. Baby Ghana (1957) — Director
32. Ispahan: A Persian Letter (The Chah Mosque at Ispahan) (1977) — Director
33. Enigma (1986) — Director
34. Badye, the Storyteller (1977) — Director
35. The Sons of the Water (1959) — Director
36. I'm Tired of Standing, I Lie Down (1997) — Director
37. Liberté, égalité, fraternité, et puis après... (1990) — Director
38. The Magicians of Wanzerbé (1948) — Director
39. The Ordinary Madness of a Daughter of Ham (1986) — Director
40. Sigui 1968: The Dancers of Tyogou (1968) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Chronicle of a Summer (1961) — Self
2. The Mad Masters (1955) — Narrator
3. The Lovely Month of May (1963) — Self (uncredited)
4. Son of Gascogne (1995) — Self
5. Cinématon (1978) — N°1256
6. The Doll (1962) — Officer (uncredited)
7. The Dreamed Films (2010) — Self
8. My Conversations on Film (2013) — Himself
9. Samba the Great (1977) — Narrator
10. Cinéma! Cinéma! The French New Wave (1992) — Self
11. Ispahan: A Persian Letter (The Chah Mosque at Ispahan) (1977) — Lui-même
12. La Nouvelle Vague par elle-même (1964) — Self
13. An Egg with No Shell (1992)
14. Letter to Jean Rouch (1992) — Self
15. The Sons of the Water (1959)
16. Rouch's Gang — Self
17. Mon père c'est un lion - Jean Rouch pour mémoire (2002) — Self
18. Rouch in Reverse (1995) — himself
19. Nouvelle Vague : El cine sin dogmas (2000) — Self
20. Maya Deren, Take Zero (2012) — Himself
21. Cinéma, de notre temps: Mosso, mosso (Jean Rouch comme si...) (1999) — Himself
22. Ciné-Portrait of Raymond Depardon (1983) — himself
23. Pierre Fatumbi Verger: Messenger Between Two Worlds (1998) — Self
24. Samedi soir (1971) — Self
25. Encountering Jean Rouch (2003)
26. A Friendly Handshake (1997)
27. World Without a Game (1966) — Self
28. Jean Epstein, Young Oceans of Cinema (2011) — Self (archive footage)
29. Ciguri – Tarahumaras 98 - La Danse Du Peyotl (1998) — Narrator
30. Ciné-mafia (1980)
31. Germaine chez elle (1994) — himself
32. Jean Rouch: First Film 1947-1991 (1991) — Himself
33. Civilisation: L'homme et les images (1967) — Self
34. Jean Rouch, des mensonges plus vrais que la réalité (2004) — Lui-même
35. Ciguri - Tarahumaras 99 - Le dernier chaman (1999) — narrador
36. Work(ing Together) in Process — Self, the filmmaker before the filmmakers (in 240p)
37. Portrait de Jean Rouch (2004) — Self
38. Freddy Buache, le cinéma (2012) — Self (archive footage)
39. L’Enigma di Jean Rouch a Torino - Cronaca di un film raté (2017)
40. Outlaw (2025) — Self