Movies by Jean Rouch

Samba the Great

Samba the Great

The adventures of a legendary hero who, dazzled by the beauty of a princess in the hand asks. This imposes several trials he emerges victorious. Only death will eventually bring the two young men.

The Dreamed Films

The Dreamed Films

Belgian filmmaker Eric Pauwels' meditation on dream, travel and film.

Chronicle of a Summer

Chronicle of a Summer

Paris, summer 1960. Anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch and sociologist and film critic Edgar Morin wander through the crowded streets asking passersby how they cope with life's misfortunes.

Germaine chez elle

Germaine chez elle

In front of Jean Rouch's camera, Germaine Dieterlen recalls her ethnographic itinerary, at the Musée de l'Homme, in Mali and in the Paris of the 1930s.

The Mad Masters

The Mad Masters

The subject of the film was the Hauka movement. The Hauka movement consisted of mimicry and dancing to become possessed by French Colonial administrators. The participants performed the same elaborate military ceremonies of their colonial occupiers, but in more of a trance than true recreation.

Maya Deren, Take Zero

Maya Deren, Take Zero

This documentary interweaves celluloid and voice recordings by Maya Deren, and colleagues who knew her firsthand: Jean Rouch, Jonas Mekas, Alexander Hammid, Cecile Starr etc. Maya Deren (1917-1961) was an experimental filmmaker. In the 1940s and 1950s she made several influential avant-garde films, such as Meshes of the Afternoon (1943). Images from this and her other work are used in this documentary. You can also hear her voice, as well as accounts by contemporaries such as Jean Rouch and Jonas Mekas.

Ciné-Portrait of Raymond Depardon

Ciné-Portrait of Raymond Depardon

A fortuitous meeting, late one afternoon, in the garden of the Tuileries, of one or two cameras, a tape recorder, and three cameramen/directors, Raymond Depardon, Jean Rouch, and Philippe Costantini.

Nouvelle Vague : El cine sin dogmas

Nouvelle Vague : El cine sin dogmas

Cinéma, de notre temps: Mosso, mosso (Jean Rouch comme si...)

Cinéma, de notre temps: Mosso, mosso (Jean Rouch comme si...)

Rouch's Gang

Rouch's Gang

The documentary Rouch's Gang follows the film crew and provides a glimpse behind the scenes as Jean Rouch and his four friends from Niger make their film.

Ispahan: A Persian Letter (The Chah Mosque at Ispahan)

Ispahan: A Persian Letter (The Chah Mosque at Ispahan)

Jean Rouch’s camera follows his friend, filmmaker/actor/critic Farrokh Ghaffari, as he walks and talks us through the famous Shah Mosque in Esfehan. While guiding him and answering his questions, Ghaffari makes Rouch discover the beauties of the architecture of the mosque and its impact on the city. Throughout the tour, they discuss Islam’s complex relationship with death, sex and cinema.