Georges Franju

Biography

Georges Franju was a French filmmaker. He was born in Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine. Before working in French cinema, Franju had several different jobs. Franju was also briefly in the military in Algeria and was discharged in 1932. On his return, Franju studied to become a set designer and later created backdrops for music halls including Casino de Paris and the Folles Bergère. In the mid-thirties, Franju and Henri Langlois met through Franju's twin brother Jacques Franju. As well as creating the 16 mm short film Le Métro, Langlois and Franju also started a short-lived film magazine and created a film club called Le Cercle du Cinema with 500 francs he borrowed from Langlois' parents. The club showed silent films from their own collections followed by an informal debate about them amongst members. From Le Cercle du Cinema, Franju and Langlois founded the Cinématheque Française in 1936. Franju ceased to be closely related with the Cinématheque Française as early as 1938, and only became associated with it strongly again in the 1980s when he was appointed as the honorary artistic director of the Cinématheque. In 1949, Franju began work on a series of nine documentary films. The Nazi o…

Directed

1. Eyes Without a Face (1960) — Director
2. Blood of the Beasts (1949) — Director
3. Judex (1963) — Director
4. Head Against the Wall (1959) — Director
5. Therese (1962) — Director
6. Shadowman (1974) — Director
7. Hôtel des Invalides (1952) — Director
8. Spotlight on a Murderer (1961) — Director
9. Thomas the Impostor (1965) — Director
10. Le Grand Méliès (1952) — Director
11. The Demise of Father Mouret (1970) — Director
12. Monsieur and Madame Curie (1956) — Director
13. The First Night (1958) — Director
14. Passing through Lorraine (1950) — Director
15. Le Métro (1934) — Director
16. The Shadow Line (1973) — Director
17. Mon chien (1955) — Director
18. Dust of Life (1953) — Director
19. Le Théâtre National Populaire (1956) — Director
20. Notre Dame, cathédrale de Paris (1957) — Director
21. L'Homme sans visage (1975) — Director
22. La Discorde (1978) — Director
23. About a River (1955) — Director
24. The Moment of Peace (1965) — Director
25. Le Dernier Mélodrame (1979) — Director
26. Sur le pont d’Avignon (1956) — Director
27. Le Magicien du fer (1967) — Director
28. Rendez-vous avec Fantômas (1966) — Director
29. Amiens, Ville Ouverte (1967) — Director
30. Navigation marchande atlantique (1954) — Director
31. Pour le plaisir (1964) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Aznavour by Charles (2019) — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
2. Cinépanorama (1956) — Self
3. La Nouvelle Vague par elle-même (1964) — Self
4. The Story of French Fantasy Cinema (2019) — Self (archive footage)
5. Georges Franju - Le visionnaire (1998) — Self (archive footage)
6. Franju, l'avion et la DS (1987) — Self
7. Rendez-vous avec Fantômas (1966) — Self
8. Pour le plaisir (1964) — Self