ROUCH, JEAN

(1917-2004)

Director. Jean Rouch was born in Paris, the son of a traveling naval officer who took his family to live in Algeria, France, Germany, and Morocco. Rouch studied civil engineering in Paris in the late 1930s, where he viewed films at theCinémathèque Française. During that period, Parisians were fascinated with African art and artifacts. Africa was often the subject of exhibitions at the controversial Musée de L'Homme. Rouch also appreciated surrealist art, which had been inspired by African art. This interest in Africa would later characterize his filmmaking.

Rouch halted his studies temporarily as a result of Germany's pending invasion. In 1939, in an attempt to prevent German attacks, Rouch became part of a team that exploded bridges. In 1940, he returned to his studies and added courses in anthropology taught by Marcel Griaule. The following year Rouch left Paris to serve as an engineer in France's African colonies. In Niger he met Damouré Zika, who would enable Rouch to examine Songhay traditions first-hand. After World War II, Rouch, Pierre Ponty, and Jean Sauvy traveled the Niger River and wrote articles under the name Jean Pierjean. During this exploration Rouch codirected his first film,Au pays des mages noirs, with a handheld 16 mm camera, a technique that would later influence the filmmakers of theNouvelle Vagueor New Wave.

Rouch directed several ethnographic films in Africa, especially in the regions colonized by France. He crafted what he termed "shared anthropology," or the practice of encouraging the participation of, rather than the objectification of, people being filmed. He also provided instruction in film technology to African students, among them the Senegalese filmmaker Safi Faye. In 1955, Rouch screened one of his most famous films,Les Maîtres Fous, at the Musée de l'Homme.The film was subsequently banned in Great Britain. He also made "ethno-fiction" films such asJaguar, and in collaboration with Oumarou Ganda in 1958,Moi,un noir. Rouch's use of handheld cameras and Ganda's improvised narration inMoi,un noirfurther led scholars to view Rouch as a forerunner to the New Wave.Moi,un noirwas awarded thePrix Louis-Dellucin 1959. Rouch later directedLa Pyramide humaine(1960), a documentary about high school students' perceptions of racism in the Ivory Coast. In 1961, Rouch and the sociologist Edgar Morin directedChronique d'un été, which received the Prix de la Critique at theCannes Film Festival. It employed a pioneeringcinéma veritéstyle, the term a translation of Russian director Dziga Vertov'skino pravda, or "film truth." The cinéma verité style—Rouch is credited as being the first director to use the term—has also been linked, with variations, to French directorsChris MarkerandRaymond Depardon.

In 1965, Rouch contributed a sketch, titled "Gare du Nord," to the filmParis,Vu Par, a series of shorts codirected withClaude Chabrol,Jean-Luc Godard, andEric Rohmer, among others. He later directed the ethnographic filmLa chasse au lion à l'Arc(1965), and with Germaine Dieterlen and Gilbert Rouget, he directedBatteries Dogon(1966). In 1968, Rouch filmedPetit à petit, featuring Faye and Zika. Zika also appeared in Rouch'sCocorico Monsieur Poulet(1974). In 1969, Rouch,Henri Langlois, and Enrico Fulchignoni pioneered a doctoral program in cinema at Paris universities. He later directed a biographical short about Margaret Mead,Ciné-portrait de Margaret Mead(1977). In addition to making films, Rouch was a professor and writer.

Rouch became the head of the Cinémathèque Française in 1985, a post he held until 1991. He continued directing; among his films wereBoulevards d'Afrique(1989), codirected with Tam-Sir Doueb,Madame L'Eau(1993),Faire-part:Musée Henri Langlois(1997), andLe Rêve plus fort que la mort(2002), codirected with Bernard Surugue (2002). In the past few decades, depictions of Africans by French ethnographers have been examined with scrutiny, especially by African intellectuals. Manthia Diawara directed a playful and in-sightful reverse ethnography starring Rouch, titledRouch in Reverse(1995). Other biographical films about Rouch include Julien Donada and Guillaume Casset'sL'inventaire de Jean Rouch(1993), Jean-André Fieschi'sMosso Mosso:Jean Rouch comme si(1998), and Anne Mcintosh'sConversations with Jean Rouch(2004). Rouch died in Niger in a car accident in 2004.