French 235 Patricia L. Pecoy AVANT-GARDE CINEMA FRENCH IMPRESSIONISM SURREALISM Avant-Garde Cinema  Goal: to explore cinema as art  New personal vision of the artist  Rejected the inspirational potential of stage drama or literary adaptations  Considered a cinema of “intellectuals for intellectuals”  Represented a collective initiative Avant-garde cinema: Louis Delluc(1890-1924)  Originally a journalist and literary critic  Began by writing screenplays Louis Delluc  Tried to get away from drama scenarios and literary adaptations (which dominated the film scene at the time)  Emphasized symbolic expression and psychological exploration  Died suddenly in 1924 (at the age of 34) Louis Delluc: Legacy  Along with Ricciotto Canudo, is credited with forming the first significant ciné-club in France  In 1937, his name was chosen for the prize awarded each year to the best French film (Prix Louis Delluc) Prix Louis Delluc  The prize is awarded on the second Thursday of December each year  In 2009, the Prix Louis Delluc went to Un Prophète (A Prophet)  See list of winners Surrealist cinema  Surrealist and avant-garde cinema was often scorned  Was thought to be a cinema for intellectuals  Result: low budget films that evolved at the periphery of the industry  Displayed an overstated tendancy for psychological analysis in preference to narration Cinéma d’auteurs  The authors remained closely connected to the process of production  Was the symbolic icon of all great directors, from Abel Gance to Renoir  Anticipated the French New Wave cinema of the 1960s Surrealist cinema  With the surrealist auteurs, a new language of cinema emerged  Visual associations  Sudden slow motion  Overimpression  Non-linear narration  Lack of narrative sequencing  No anlytical editing Surrealist cinema: Luis Buñel (1900-1983)  Was an active participant in both silent and sound Surrealist cinema  Characteristic: atmosphere designed to upset “bourgeois” cinematographic ethics  Ex: close-up of an eye being slit by a razor blade An Adalusian Dog (1929) (Un chien andalou)  Short film in collaboration with Salvador Dali  Disturbing sequences  Disconnected scenes (or seemingly so) Marcel L’Herbier  Advocated for diversity in technological innovation and offered extraordinary Art Déco set productions Marcel L’Herbier: Art Déco Money (L’Argent) Art déco  Style launched about 1925 at the Paris Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts  Became one of the visual trademarks of Impressionist films IDHEC (1943)  One of L’Herbier’s most significant contributions to film history was his responsibility for the establishment of the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC) in 1943 (trans.: Institute for Film Studies)  Many filmakers began their apprenticeships there Abel Gance (1889-1981)  His films were characterized by epic subject matter and historical figures Early Films by Abel Gance Napoleon (1927)  First conceived for a triple screen  Introduced the panoramic screen, sound perspective and the superimposition of shots  Used a version of widescreen which employed three synchronized cameras to be projected on three separate frames (triptych screen)  Premiered in Polyvision in 1927 in Paris with a full orchestra Napoleon (1927) René Clair (1898-1981)  Began his career as an actor  Entr’acte (Intermission)- 1924  Featured many celebrities of the decade  Reminiscent of the automatic writing of the Surrealists  Intense emotional maniupulation René Clair End of the Silent Era  Two events marked the end of the silent film era:  Invention of the first “talking pictures” in the United States in 1927  The Jazz Singer (Al Jolson)  The economic turmoil following the Wall Street crash of 1929