CAHIERS DU CINÉMA

A film journal founded in 1951 by Jacques Doniol-Valcroze andAndré Bazin,Les Cahiers du cinémais today one of the leading, authoritative French film journals, and it was the first to offer film analysis beyond the level of diegesis or plot analysis. Bazin's essays in the journal were highly influential, as were his efforts in bringing stylistic, structural, and formal analysis of film into the mainstream. Although Bazin and the journal were known for the championing of realism, Bazin's openness to innovations of technique and form made the journal one of theNouvelle Vagueor New Wave's most prominent advocates. The New Wave directorsClaude Chabrol,Jean-Luc Godard,Jacques Rivette,Eric Rohmer, andFrançois Truffautcontributed regularly to the journal. One of the most strongly associated critical veins of the journal is its championing of the concept of theauteur, or the director who is total creator of cinema. Much of what is and has been written by the critics of the journal is informed by this idea, which can be traced back to Bazin.Positif, the principal competitor toLes Cahiers du cinéma, rejects the auteur concept altogether.