Directing · Paris, France · Born May 31, 1917
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.
MovieOutlaw
2025
as Self
MovieL’Enigma di Jean Rouch a Torino - Cronaca di un film raté
2017
MovieMy Conversations on Film
2013
as Himself
MovieFreddy Buache, le cinéma
2012
as Self (archive footage)
Maya Deren, Take Zero
2012
as Himself
MovieJean Epstein, Young Oceans of Cinema
2011
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThe Dreamed Films
2010
as Self
MoviePortrait de Jean Rouch
2004
as Self
MovieJean Rouch, des mensonges plus vrais que la réalité
2004
as Lui-même
MovieEncountering Jean Rouch
2003
Mon père c'est un lion - Jean Rouch pour mémoire
2002
as Self
MovieNouvelle Vague : El cine sin dogmas
2000
as Self
MovieCinéma, de notre temps: Mosso, mosso (Jean Rouch comme si...)
1999
as Himself
MovieCiguri - Tarahumaras 99 - Le dernier chaman
1999
as narrador
MoviePierre Fatumbi Verger: Messenger Between Two Worlds
1998
as Self
MovieCiguri – Tarahumaras 98 - La Danse Du Peyotl
1998
as Narrator
MovieA Friendly Handshake
1997
MovieSon of Gascogne
1995
as Self
Rouch in Reverse
1995
as himself
MovieGermaine chez elle
1994
as himself
Cinéma! Cinéma! The French New Wave
1992
as Self
MovieAn Egg with No Shell
1992
MovieLetter to Jean Rouch
1992
as Self
MovieJean Rouch: First Film 1947-1991
1991
as Himself
MovieCiné-Portrait of Raymond Depardon
1983
as himself
Ciné-mafia
1980
MovieCinématon
1978
as N°1256
MovieSamba the Great
1977
as Narrator
MovieIspahan: A Persian Letter (The Chah Mosque at Ispahan)
1977
as Lui-même
Samedi soir
1971
as Self
Civilisation: L'homme et les images
1967
as Self
MovieWorld Without a Game
1966
as Self
MovieLa Nouvelle Vague par elle-même
1964
as Self
MovieThe Lovely Month of May
1963
as Self (uncredited)
MovieThe Doll
1962
as Officer (uncredited)
MovieChronicle of a Summer
1961
as Self
MovieThe Sons of the Water
1959
MovieThe Mad Masters
1955
as Narrator
MovieRouch's Gang
as Self
MovieWork(ing Together) in Process
as Self, the filmmaker before the filmmakers (in 240p)
