Jean Rouch
Known for: Directing
Born: May 31, 1917
Died: February 18, 2004
Place of birth: Paris, France
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.
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Filmography
129 movies · 1 TV show, newest first
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Outlaw
2025
NR
L’Enigma di Jean Rouch a Torino - Cronaca di un film raté
2017
3.2
My Conversations on Film
2013
NR
Freddy Buache, le cinéma
2012
10.0
Mad Mimes
20125.0
Maya Deren, Take Zero
2012
NR
Jean Epstein, Young Oceans of Cinema
2011
7.3
The Dreamed Films
2010
NR
Portrait de Jean Rouch
2004
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Jean Rouch, des mensonges plus vrais que la réalité
2004
NR
Encountering Jean Rouch
200310.0
Mon père c'est un lion - Jean Rouch pour mémoire
2002NR
Le Rêve plus fort que la mort
2002
8.0
Nouvelle Vague : El cine sin dogmas
2000
6.0
Cinéma, de notre temps: Mosso, mosso (Jean Rouch comme si...)
1999
NR
Ciguri - Tarahumaras 99 - Le dernier chaman
1999
9.0
Pierre Fatumbi Verger: Messenger Between Two Worlds
1998
NR
Ciguri – Tarahumaras 98 - La Danse Du Peyotl
19989.0
I'm Tired of Standing, I Lie Down
1997
NR
A Friendly Handshake
199710.0
Announcement
1997
NR
Germaine et ses copains
1996
5.1
Son of Gascogne
19957.0
Rouch in Reverse
1995
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Germaine chez elle
19947.4
Madame l'eau
19933.3
Cinéma! Cinéma! The French New Wave
1992
1.0
An Egg with No Shell
1992
6.0
Letter to Jean Rouch
1992
NR
Damouré Speaks About AIDS
1992
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Jean Rouch: First Film 1947-1991
1991
6.6
Brise-glace
19909.0
Liberté, égalité, fraternité, et puis après...
19907.0
Boulevards d'Afrique
1989NR
Brise-glace : Bateau givre
1987
NR
Cousin, cousine
1987
7.5
Couleur du temps. Berlin, Août 1945
1987
8.0
Enigma
1986
10.0
The Ordinary Madness of a Daughter of Ham
1986NR
Ciné-Portrait de Bill Witney
19866.0
Dionysos
1984NR
Hampâté Bâ
1984
9.0
Ciné-Portrait of Raymond Depardon
1983NR
Sigui Synthesis: The Invention of Speech and Death
1981NR
Ciné-mafia
1980
7.0
Funeral at Bongo: The Death of Old Anai
1979
4.9
Cinématon
1978
9.0
Margaret Mead: A Portrait By a Friend
1978NR
Ciné-Portrait de Stanislas Adotevi
1978
8.0
Makwayela
1977
5.5
Samba the Great
1977
9.0
Ispahan: A Persian Letter (The Chah Mosque at Ispahan)
1977
NR
Hommage à Marcel Mauss. Germaine Dieterlen
1977
7.3
Badye, the Storyteller
1977
6.3
Babatou, Three Pieces of Advice
1976
NR
Zomo et ses frères
1975
6.6
Cock-A-Doodle-Doo! Mr Chicken
1974
9.0
Pam Kuso Kar (Breaking Pam's Vases)
1974
NR
The Dama of Ambara: To Enchant Death
19747.0
Sigui 1973: The Canopy of Circumcision
1973
6.5
The Year 01
1973
7.0
Boukoki
1973
8.0
The Burial of the Hogon
1973
NR
Funeral Rites for Women in Bongo
1973
7.3
VW-Voyou
1973
NR
Giraffe Football or “The Alternative”
1973NR
Hommage à Marcel Mauss : Taro Okamoto
197310.0
Sigui 1972: The Loincloths of Yamé
1972
8.6
Horendi
1972
7.3
Un lion nommé l'Américain
1972
7.5
Sigui 1971: The Dune of Idyeli
19716.0
Samedi soir
1971
6.3
Drums from the Past
1971
7.0
Sigui 1970: The Clamours of Amani
1970
7.1
Little by Little
1970
10.0
Architects of Ayorou
1970
8.0
Mya - la mère
1970
9.0
Sigui 1969: The Cave of Bongo
1969
9.0
Sigui 1968: The Dancers of Tyogou
1968
10.0
Ayorou Singing Stones
1968
NR
Yenendi de Ganghel (Rain Dance at Ganghel)
1968
NR
Sigui 1967: L'enclume de Yougo
1967
6.8
Jaguar
1967NR
Civilisation: L'homme et les images
1967
NR
Daouda Sorko
1967
6.0
The Lion Hunters
1966
NR
World Without a Game
1966
10.0
Dogon Drums, Elements of a Study in Rhythm
1966
6.6
The Goumbé of the Young Revelers
1966
6.6
Six in Paris
1965
6.3
Gare du Nord
1965
6.8
The Fifteen-Year-Old Widows
1964
7.0
That Tender Age
1964
8.0
La Nouvelle Vague par elle-même
1964
NR
L'Afrique et la recherche scientifique
1964
8.0
The Lovely Month of May
1963
NR
Monsieur Albert, prophète
19639.0
Le palmier à l'huile
19637.0
Les cocotiers
1963NR
Rose et Landry
1963
5.5
The Doll
1962
NR
Hampi
1962
8.0
The Punishment
1962
NR
Niger Festivals: December 1961 - Niger Independence Days
1962NR
Abidjan, port de pêche
19629.0
Urbanisme africain
19627.0
Les pêcheurs du Niger
19627.0
Le mil
1962
7.2
Chronicle of a Summer
1961
6.5
The Human Pyramid
1961
NR
Funérailles au Ghana
1960
9.0
The Sons of the Water
1959
7.4
I, a Negro
1959
5.3
Moro Naba
1958NR
Une sortie de novices de Sakpata
19589.0
La royale goumbé
1958
7.7
Baby Ghana
1957
6.2
The Mad Masters
1955
5.7
Mammy Water
1953
7.3
The Rainmakers
1951
7.0
Cemeteries in the Cliff
19517.0
Les gens du mil
1951
6.5
Battle on the Great River
1950
4.8
Circumcision
1949
10.0
Initiation into the Dance of the Possessed
1948
7.0
The Magicians of Wanzerbé
19488.0
Hombroï
1948
6.6
In the Land of the Black Magi
1947
7.0
Rouch's Gang
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NR
Work(ing Together) in Process
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