For those of you in Los Angeles: Los Angeles Filmforum, the UCLA Film and Television Archive, Film at REDCAT, and the French Film and TV OfficeConsulate General of France in Los Angeles present, starting tonight:
FARTHER THAN FAR: THE CINEMA OF JEAN ROUCH Friday, January 25 - Saturday, February 23 A once-in-a-really-really-long-time opportunity, with many films brought in from Europe and almost never screened. The whole schedule is below by date. Please read carefully to see venue time. A must for all documentary makers! Jean Rouch is simply one of the most significant filmmakers of the 20th century, his approaches influencing innumerable films after him. A seminal figure of both film art and social science, Jean Rouch (1917-2004) represents a fountainhead of many aspects. A filmmaker who came to cinema gradually, Rouch had been a civil engineer in colonial Niger, where his observation of possession rituals formed the basis of his interest in anthropology. Formally trained to gather visual evidence, he evolved radically new approaches to documentary practice in Africa over many decades. Among these, one finds the assumption of scientific neutrality replaced by the possibility of fruitful and revealing stimulations in the acknowledgement of the camera, and the possibility of cinema as participating in and subject to trance states. Such affronts to received Western notions opened still-ongoing debates within anthropological circles. Rouch's interest in the ontology of cinema led to experiments that proved hugely influential in his native France and worldwide, as in his most famous work Chronique d'un Été (1961), co-directed with Edgar Morin, now regarded as a foundation document of cinema verité, and of the French New Wave. Rouch's continuing work in post-colonial Africa evolved collaborative filmmaking approaches with colleagues including Damouré Zika and Oumarou Ganda, creating proto-fictional modes only partly distinct from documentary practice, and opening up the distinction of "ethno-fiction." This series samples but a fraction of Rouch's vast cinematic output, and celebrates his unique contributions to human understanding. All films directed by Jean Rouch, unless otherwise noted. All films in French with English subtitles, unless otherwise noted. This series draws inspiration in partfrom the series "Here and Elsewhere: The Films of Jean Rouch" presented in Fall 2012 at the French Institute Alliance Française and Anthology Film Archives in New York, and curated by Sam Di Iorio and Jamie Berthe. Special thanks to: Adrien Sarre, Lise de Sablet, Beatrice Arnaud, Delphine Selles-Alvarez--The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States; Centre National du Cinéma et de l'imageanimée (Paris); Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique (Paris);Comité du film ethnographique (Paris); Institut français; MarieLosier-French Institute Alliance Française (New York); Jed RapfogelAnthology Film Achives; Sam Di IorioHunter College; Jamie BertheNew York University; Ayuko Babu--Pan African Film and Art Festival (Los Angeles); Emilie de Brigard. ------------ FRIDAY, JANUARY 25 @ 7:30 p.m. UCLA Film Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2013-01-25/farther-far-cinema-jean-rouch MOI UN NOIR (Me, a Black Man) (1958, Digital video from 35mm, color, 70 min.) Termed by Jean-Luc Godard "the best French film since the liberation," Moi Un Noir is a fanciful experiment, depicting the lives of poor immigrants in the slum of Treichville, in the city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Seeking to penetrate social realities of these lives, Rouch involved locals (including Oumarou Ganda) in scripting, acting and narrating scenes of daily dreams and disappointments. Upending assumptions about authorship and social science, Rouch's approach here became a hallmark of his oeuvre and of "ethno-fiction" as a distinction in art and anthropology. Preceded by: GARE DU NORD (1964, 35mm, color, 16 min.) SCR: Jean Rouch. CAST: Nadine Ballot, Gilles Quéant, Barbet Schroeder. Rouch's deceptively simple short employs long takes in anexperiment to unite real and cinematic time. MAMMY WATER (1953, Digital video from 16mm, color, 18 min.) This lyrical, short documentary depicts Ghanian fishermenmaking offerings to the sea gods. ------------ SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 @ 7:30 p.m. UCLA Film Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2013-01-25/farther-far-cinema-jean-rouch CHRONIQUE D'UN ÉTÉ (Chronicle of a Summer) (1961, 35mm, b/w, 85 min.) DIR: Jean Rouch, Edgar Morin. CAST: J. Rouch, E. Morin, Marceline Loridan Ivens. Rouch and sociologist Edgar Morin set out to create a portrait and time capsule of Paris, following a small group of French and African acquaintances as they discuss geopolitics and daily life. The use of lightweight cameras and sound recording equipment, and the involvement of participants in the process of filmmaking gave the film a bristling aesthetic character, profoundly influencing the development of cinema verité and spurring debates about documentary practice. Preceded by: UNE BRÈVE HISTOIRE DE CINÉMA, (2004, Digital video, color, 16 min.) DIR: Jackie Raynal. Shot shortly before Rouch's death in 2004, this film by his sometime collaborator Jackie Raynal captures the then-86-year-old documentarian visiting a café near his home in Paris. TOUROU ET BITTI: LES TAMBOURS D'AVANT (Tourou and Bitti: The Drums of the Past) (1971, 16mm, color, 10 min.) A spellbinding work, achieved in a single take, this documentation of a possession ritual of music and dance in rural Niger builds to its climactic conclusion only after Rouch's presence has been noticed and acknowledged by participants, complicating the meaning of the cinematic apparatus. IN PERSON: Robert Lemelson, anthropologist, documentary filmmaker and adjunct professor, UCLA Department of Anthropology; Michael Renov, professor of critical studies, USC School of Cinematic Arts; and Ayuko Babu, founder anddirector, Pan African Film and Art Festival. ------------ SUNDAY JANUARY 27 @ 7:30 pm Los Angeles Filmforum presents: Jean Rouch's Horendi, followed by a discussion with Nancy Lutkehas, Michael Renov, and Olivia Wyatt At the Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90028 www.lafilmforum.org Tickets: $10 general, $6 students/seniors; free for Filmforum members. Available by credit card in advance from Brown Paper Tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/321061or by cash or check at the door. With Nancy Lutkehas, Michael Renov, and Olivia Wyatt in person! HORENDI (1972, 16mm, 68 min.) Co-directed by Gilbert Rouget Very rarely screened, Horendi treats the relationship between music, ceremony, and dance. HORENDI focuses on what ethnographer Luc de Heusch has called an "endorcism", a ceremony in which Songhai women learn not how to cast off spirits, but how to host them through ritualized dance. ------------------- WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30 @ 7:30 p.m. UCLA Film Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2013-01-25/farther-far-cinema-jean-rouch "SELECTED SHORTS" This compendium of early, shorter works by Rouch trace the development of his practice as a filmmaker concerned with producing sound ethnography, as well as creating revelatory filmic documents. Developing more refined distinctions from this juncture of disciplines, he recorded and interpreted sacred rites and celebrations with methods both borrowed and improvised. AU PAYS DES MAGES NOIRS (In the Land of the Black Magi) (1947, 35mm, b/w, 13 min.) DIR: J. Rouch, Jean Sauvy, Pierre Ponty. Captured during an early expedition along the Niger river, the film depicts a hippopotamus hunt by Sorko fishermen on the island of Ayorou, Rouch's first film on this subject. INITIATION A LA DANSE DES POSSEDÉS (Initiation Into Possession Dance) (1949, 16mm, color, 22 min.) A Songhay woman in the Niger village of Firgoun learns the dances of a spirit medium, to manage the spirit possessions that have deprived her of the power of speech. LA CIRCONCISION (The Circumcision) (1949, 16mm, color, 14 min.) A depiction of the day-long circumcision rites of forty Songhay boys in Mali, from morning preparations through circumcision to ritual music at the day's end. LES MAÎTRES FOUS (The Mad Masters) (1955, Digital video from 16mm, color, 28 min.) Depicting the annual Hauka religious ceremonies of the Upper Niger region and produced at the request of priests in authority, Rouch's compact but staggeringly influential film has been alternately denounced for perpetuating "savage" imagery, and lauded for its ethnographic rigor and implied critique of colonialism. BABY GHANA (1957, 35mm, color, 27 min.) A record of festivities following Ghanaian independence in 1957, also emblematizing Rouch's role in documenting Africa's transition to its post-colonial period. ------------ SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3 @ 7:00 p.m. UCLA Film Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2013-01-25/farther-far-cinema-jean-rouch LA CHASSE AU LION À L'ARC (The Lion Hunters) (1965, Digital video, color, 77 min.) Seven years in the making, this documentary details the highly technical and mystical process of planning and executing a lion hunt, including the preparation of special poisons, testing these on other animals, and tracking and killing the lions with special prayers offered as part of the process. More than in most of his other fieldwork, Rouch implicated himself in the unfolding of this story, noting those moments that he and his camera informed the proceedings themselves. Preceded by: BATAILLE SUR LE GRAND FLEUVE (Battle on the Great River) (1951, 16mm, color, 33 min.) An account of hippopotamus hunting in the Niger river,this stirring film, with great attention to process and outstanding cinematography, was also the first project which Rouch screened for the subjects of the story, inviting their input (a practice he would continue henceforth). ------------ MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4 @ 8:30 pm Jean Rouch on the Gold Coast at REDCAT http://www.redcat.org/event/jean-rouch JAGUAR (shot 195455, premiered 1967) preceded by Les Maîtres fous (The Mad Masters, 1955) These two films compose a fascinating portrait of the dislocation created by colonialism in Africa. Once controversial, but now an anthropological classic, Les Maîtres fous (28 mins.) documents a Hauka possession ceremony, during which the participants mimic figures of the colonial power. With Jaguar (90 mins.), Rouch invented ciné-fiction, a mix of ethnology and improvised narrative. A gallant public writer, a shepherd and a fishermanportrayed respectively by non-professional actors Damouré Zika, Lam Ibrahim Dia and Illo Gaoudelleave their village to try their luck on the fabled Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana). In Accra, Damouré becomes a "jaguar"a city slicker. As sync sound was not available then, the three buddies jovially comment on the action after the fact, observing that the Brits royally conned Africa out of its gold. ----------------- FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15 @ 7:30 p.m. UCLA Film Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2013-01-25/farther-far-cinema-jean-rouch LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ ET PUIS APRÈS (Freedom, Equality,Fraternityand Then What?) (1990, 16mm, color, 95 min.) This later work from Rouch's oeuvre takes up themes of historical memory and cross-cultural understanding with surprising results. On the occasion of thebicentenary of the French Revolution, a group of Haitians in Paris undertake a voodoo ritual in front of Les Invalides, to reconcile the spirits of Napoleon Bonaparte and Toussaint L'Overture, the Haitian revolutionary who died as a prisoner of the French Emperor. Preceded by: MAKWAYELA (1977, 16mm, color, 20 min.) A group of factory workers in post-independence Mozambique performs a ritual of song describing their work in South African gold mines, and decrying the evils of apartheid. ------------ SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 @ 7:30 pm Los Angeles Filmforum presents: Jean Rouch: Breaking the Ice At the Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90028 Www.lafilmforum.org Tonight we not only feature one of his late shorts, but we also finally get to hear from Rouch himself, via an hour-long show he did with Robert Gardner in Boston in the 1970s, which includes excerpts from other films. Tickets: $10 general, $6 students/seniors; free for Filmforum members. Available by credit card in advance from Brown Paper Tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/321104 or by cash or check at the door. BATEAU-GIVRE (Ice Ship)(1987, 35 min, 35mm-to-video.) Sound recording and editing: Patrick Genet; Music: Luc Ferrari Far removed from his habitual landscapes, Bateau-Givre was Rouch's section of a collaborative work (other contributors included Luc Ferrari and Raoul Ruiz) that explored the Swedish icebreaker Frej. The resulting short is one of his most beautiful and contemplative films. SCREENING ROOM WITH ROBERT GARDNER: JEAN ROUCH (1980, video, 64 minutes) Source: Studio7Arts Jean Rouch appeared on Screening Room in July, 1980, and screened Les Maîtres Fous as well as several film excerpts including Rhythm of Work and Death of a Priest. Over a period of five decades Jean Rouch made many films about the Songhay and Dogon of West Africa. Regarded as one of the fathers of "Direct Cinema" and considered one of the most influential documentary makers of the twentieth century, his films are very difficult to find, particularly in North America. ----------------------------- FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22 @ 7:30 p.m. UCLA Film Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2013-01-25/farther-far-cinema-jean-rouch PETIT À PETIT (Little by Little)(1969, Digital video from 16mm, color, 92 min.) CAST: Damouré Zika, Lam Ibrahim Dia, Illo Goudal. In this whimsical comedy, Rouch collaborators Damouré Zika and Lam Ibrahim Dia extend characters they had earlier developed in the film Jaguar. Having established a small but successful import-export business in Niger, they see the next step clearly: to take on the trappings of capitalistic status, including that most prized symbol, a tall building. A research trip to Paris reveals their folly, as First World practices and values only provoke new troubles. COCORICO MONSIEUR POULET (1974, 35mm, color, 90 min.) DIR: Dalarou (Damouré Zika, Lam Dia, Jean Rouch). CAST: D. Zika, L. Dia, Tallou Mouzourane. Another collaboration with Damouré Zika and Lam Ibrahim Dia, this picaresque story follows three poultry sellers on a trip across the bush, attempting to deliver a load of chickens to a market in Niamey. Based on Dia's own experience as a poultry seller, and meant to depict the lives of marginal Africans, the film's whimsical, absurdist plot is driven by uniquely African references, including the influence of magic. ------------ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23 @ 7:30 p.m. UCLA Film Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2013-01-25/farther-far-cinema-jean-rouch LA PYRAMIDE HUMAINE (The Human Pyramid) (1961, 16mm, color, 88 min.) Observing racial segregation at the Lycée Français of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Rouch worked with students there who willingly enacted a story about the arrival of a new white girl, and her effect on the interactions of black and white students. Fomenting a dramatic situation instead of repeating one, Rouch extended the experiments he had undertaken in Chronique d'un Été, including having on-camera student participants view rushes of the film midway through the story. Preceded by: LES VEUVES DE 15 ANS (The 15-Year-Old Widows)(1966, 35mm, b/w, 24 min.) CAST: Véronique Duval, Marie-France de Chabaneix, Nadine Ballot. Two young women deal with the existential strain of a vacuous existence among their peers in a well-to-do Parisian set. Always one to experiment, Rouch switched the actresses' roles before production began. The film features a rare cameo appearance by director Maurice Pialat. -------------------- This program is supported by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts. Additional support generously provided by American Cinematheque. We also depend on our members, ticket buyers, and individual donors. Coming soon to Los Angeles Filmforum: Feb 3 - Ann Arbor Film Fest Tour, 16mm program, with Charlotte Pryce in person Feb 10 - Dirty Looks Feb 17 - Jean Rouch series returns Los Angeles Filmforum is the city's longest-running organization screening experimental and avant-garde film and video art, documentaries, and experimental animation. 2012 is our 37th year Memberships available, $70 single, $105 dual, or $50 single student Contact us at lafilmfo...@yahoo.com <mailto:lafilmforum%40yahoo.com> . www.lafilmforum.org Become a fan on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter!
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