- American imports were regulated during this post-war period.
- 13 weeks were set as the maximum number for screening purely French films.
- This corresponded to the production capacity of the French film industry, badly hit by lack of investment during the war.
- TV was slow to take off.
- Specialist press flourished.
- Serious discussion of film flourished.
- Most particularly “Cahiers du Cinema” (1951)
- Cinema in France was taken extremely seriously for the first time.
- Art screenings and discussions were common.
- Created by University drop-outs this ‘counter-culture’ attempted to position cinema within the mainstream of French and European culture.
- Andre Bazin, Jean-Luc Godard, Francis Truffaut (critics)
- These critics went on to make films.
- They dispensed with the technical hierarchies required by traditional cinema.
- Divisions between – producer / director / editor / cameraman / actor / writer - became blurred
- Worked from an idea - improvised - work on other films as (actors/writers etc)
- Used their own apartments instead of sets & cast friends & girlfriends in starring roles. New actors and actresses employed.
- Subject matter changed. Literary adaptation went out the window. They wrote about things that they knew: Relationships/lives etc.
- They had the look of documentaries and explored the relationship between ‘fiction’ and ‘doc’ and ‘naturalism’ and ‘formalism’.
- They also incorporated a consciousness of the history of cinema – especially Hollywood.
3. The Events of May 1968
- Many Directors demonstrated against the governments proposals to take over the film organisations Cinematheque.
- Students/workers rioting.
- Nouvelle vague directors were seen to be aligned with this new political radicalism.
- Godard’s “Le Petit Soldat” (1960) was considered critical of the war in Algeria. Was not released till 1963.
- Sexual politics/Gender/Prostitution/Homophobia
- The low budget art film
- The director as auteur
- Introduced a radical approach to genre and narrative
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