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