FILM AT REDCAT PRESENTS

Mon Feb 4 | 8:30 pm | Jack H. Skirball Series $10 [students $8, CalArts $5]

Jean Rouch on the Gold Coast Jaguar (shot 1954–55, 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 ethno-fiction, a mix of ethnology and improvised narrative. A gallant public writer, a shepherd and a fisherman—portrayed respectively by non-professional actors Damouré Zika, Lam Ibrahim Dia and Illo Gaoudel—leave 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.

Presented as part of Farther than Far: The Cinema of Jean Rouch, taking place January 25-February 23 in association with the French Film & TV Office–Consulate General of France in Los Angeles, UCLA Film & Television Archive and Los Angeles Filmforum

On Jaguar

“Jaguar, along with Les Maîtres fous, is Rouch’s most thorough examination of the African experience under the colonial regime, and an early example of his concept of provocation, the practice in which the camera’s presence is intended to cause those being filmed to react, thus creating, rather than merely recording, events.” – Senses of Cinema

“Jaguar also reflects on representation — three young Nigerians tell their own story — although here the veracity of the story is clearly in doubt, for several reasons. For one thing, school dropout and ladies’ man Damoure Zika, cattle herdsman Lam Ibrahim Dia, and apprentice fisherman Illo Gaoudel are recounting many of their adventures and even various conversations a year or two after they allegedly took place (which was shortly before Ghana became independent), improvising their commentaries over silent footage that was mainly shot during the colonial period…. Dedicated to the memory of French actor Gérard Philipe, who gave Rouch the money he needed to complete the film, Jaguar has in fact been described by Rouch as ‘pure fiction’ and ‘a postcard in the service of the imaginary.’ He has compared it to Surrealist painting — ‘using the realest possible [methods] of reproduction…in the service of the unreal, putting them in the presence of irrational elements.’ To me, however, the charming and rambling aspects of the narrative are a good deal closer to music than to painting — and to the kind of music that takes you places. There’s even a relevant connection here to performance art. In all the Rouch films I’ve seen there’s a contradiction between the supposedly impartial stance of the documenting anthropologist and the personal style and vision of an auteur. Rouch is a pioneer in that branch of filmmaking known misleadingly as ‘cinéma vérité,’ and somewhat more lucidly as ‘cinéma direct’ — making use of lightweight and portable cameras, which he generally mans himself, and sound equipment; and as soon as the technology permitted it, of sync sound and extended takes. But his personal relationships to what he is filming, his frequent use of his subjects as creative and artistic collaborators, and his impulse to become a storyteller rather than a dry recorder of ‘facts’ have all placed him at the forefront of French narrative cinema.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum

On Les Maîtres fous

“Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Les Maîtres fous is the way the participants and the settings take on theatrical roles — the oppressed re-enact their own oppression, taking the parts of their colonial oppressors. The film exerted a major influence on Jean Genet when he came to write his play The Blacks.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum

“Les Maîtres fous [is] a 1955 short that documents the hauka possession ceremony that took place annually near Accra, Gold Coast (soon to become Ghana). The participants are Nigerian immigrants seen at various labors as the film opens. During the ceremony however, they take on different identities, most importantly those of the British colonial authorities, a mimicry that Rouch interprets in the voiceover as a subversive carnivalization of the colonial hierarchy. According to Rouch the film was universally rejected when first shown, by African intellectuals for perpetuating racist exoticism and by his mentor Marcel Griaule and many other Europeans because colonial subjects are shown mimicking their masters. But in the ensuing years the film has been recognized as an anthropological classic and is now widely considered to be one of the most profound explorations of an African view of the colonial world.” – Senses of Cinema

Curated by Steve Anker and Bérénice Reynaud.

Funded in part with generous support from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

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 simulations 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 cinéma vérité, and a cornerstone 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.“

The series Farther than Far: The Cinema of Jean Rouch (Jan 25- Feb 23) samples but a fraction of Rouch’s vast cinematic output, and celebrates his unique contributions to human understanding.

Screenings at the UCLA Film & Television Archive

Fri Jan 25 7:30 PM Moi, un Noir (Me, A Black Man, 1958) preceded by: Gare du nord (1964) Mammy Water (1953)

Sat Jan 26 7:30 PM Chronique d’un été (Chronicle of a Summer, 1961). Co-dir: Edgar Morin. preceded by: Une Brève histoire de cinéma (2004) Dir: Jackie Raynal. Tourou et Bitti, les tambours d'avant (Tourou and Bitti: The Drums of the Past, 1971)

Wed Jan 30 7:30 PM Selection of shorts: Au Pays des mages noirs (In the Land of the Black Magi, 1947); Initiation à la danse des possédés (Initiation into Possession Dance, 1949); La Circoncision (The Circumcision, 1949); Les Maîtres fous (The Mad Masters, 1955); Baby Ghana (1957)

Sun Feb 3 7:00 PM La Chasse au lion à l’arc (The Lion Hunters, 1965) preceded by: Bataille sur le grand fleuve (Battle on the Great River, 1952)

Fri Feb 15 7:30 PM Liberté, égalité, fraternité et puis après (Freedom, Equality, Fraternity--And Then What?, 1990) preceded by: Makwayela (1977)

Fri Feb 22 7:30 PM Petit à petit (Little by Little, 1969) preceded by: Cocorico Monsieur Poulet (1974)

Sat Feb 23 7:30 PM La Pyramide humaine (The Human Pyramid, 1961) preceded by: Les Veuves de 15 ans (The 15-Year-Old Widows, 1966)

Tickets and information: http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2013-01-25/farther-far-cinema- jean-rouch

Screenings at Los Angeles Filmforum

Sun Jan 27 7:30 PM Program TBA

Sun Feb 17 7:30 PM Program TBA

At the Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90028

Tickets: $10 general, $6 students/seniors; free for Filmforum members. Available by credit card in advance from Brown Paper Tickets or by cash or check at the door.

More details: www.lafilmforum.org