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“Les Regards Comparés” and “le Bilan du film
ethnographique” Jean Rouch’s initiatives.
Nadine Wanono Gauthier
To cite this version:
Nadine Wanono Gauthier. “Les Regards Comparés” and “le Bilan du film ethnographique” Jean Rouch’s initiatives.. Aida Vallejo and Maria Paz Peirano. Film Festivals and Anthropology , Cam-bridge Scholars Publishing, pp.97-105, 2017, 978-1-4438-1683-0. �hal-01501520�
“Les Regards Comparés”and“le Bilan du film ethnographique”Jean Rouch’s initiatives.
In 1969 Jean Rouch, Enrico Fulchignoni1 and Claudine de France created a new kind of specialised training in cinema at the department of Social Sciences at Nanterre Univeristy, taking advantage of the liberation which surrounded the May 68 revolution, started in this same University.This first offer of training in Cinema and documentary in a French University serves as an anchor in the French academic system. In 1971, Jean Rouch created a research centre, “La FRC” (Formation de recherches cinématographiques)which he directed until 1980, when Claudine de France took over the position. In 1976, in collaboration with historian Georges Albert Astre, they founded a diploma (DEA)with an option « Production inanthropological cinema and documentary”and a PHD in Visual anthropology. This highly innovative diploma was recognised by both universities Paris I - La Sorbonne and Paris X - Nanterre University. I was part of one the first generation of students enrolled in this program.
In 1976Rouch was promoted to Outstanding Director of Research at the CNRS and his notoriety was exceptional. His international recognition enabled him to take some very influential actionsin confronting the fortress of university processes. In 1978, he took part in the first international documentary film festival organised at the Pompidou Centre: Cinéma du Réel - Cinema of the Real.
Rouch was completely and openlyaware of the challenges raised by this new training and this relatively new discipline. The university was a key point for him in order to start the
process of democratisation of what was often perceived as a privilege: to become a
filmmaker.His notion of shared anthropology was not just part of the implicit rules a cineaste should follow with the protagonists, but for Rouch it was also a way of life, an attitude towards the people he met. He was always deeply committed to the creation and elaboration of new tools.Kodak and Fuji introduced the Super 8millimeter camera and young filmmakers started to use this format as a professional medium: it was a time to challenge the state monopoly on Information. This was also the “do it yourself” craftsman side of Jean. Tools were there to be transformed, in order to capture and reveal life’s complexity, richness, and poetry. The control and transformation of his tools was a key aspect of Jean’s work. By inviting the students to use
1Enrico Fulchignoni, 1913-1988, in charge of the audiovisual at UNESCO and president of Conseil International Cinema and Television.
the Super8mm, it was a real opportunity to free the means of expression. From an economic point of view also, it was challenging the system: 10minutes of 16mm, after being processed cost around 150 euros. In super 8mm, 10mins cost 15 euros.
So, when in 1978 he decided to set up a new platform called les Regards Comparés2, he was concretely offering an open spacewhere students, ethnographers, sociologists, filmmakers, artists and non-specialists audience could share films produced in the same geographical or cultural area but from a very distinctive point of view. He was prolonging the famous declaration of Leroy Gourhan (1948): “The ethnographical label can apply to research film, scientific recording, public documentary, or films about exoticism. All fall under the name of travel film and milieu films shot without any scientific intention yet imbued with ethnologic value upon exportation...”3 Those categories highlight how the milieu film “unconsciously harbors scientific values most evident in changing the viewer’s perspective.»Even if for Sol Worth this classification could be perceived as tautological, because each film could be perceived in different ways depending on the conditions of the screening and the audience, in the case of the Regards Comparés, the appeal and the richness of such event came from the confrontation of different points of view over the course of a three-day event. The viewers were given the opportunity to watch films produced by TV producers,travellers and ethnographers in a time-space continuum. Faye Ginsburg recalled it in these terms:« The events brought together people from all over the world, including anthropologists, filmmakers, television executives,video artists, amateur movie makers, as well as people from the societies being viewed, to begin to see how different media agendas, as well as the culture/nationality and gender of producers, shape the images produced ».3 (1995)
In 1978, the first Regards Comparés was organised under the presidency of ProfessorsGeorges Henry Rivière4, Enrico Fulchignoni and Meyer Fortes5.Rouch advocatedfor
2
The initiators of this event we 2 The initiators of this event were, J.M Arnold, Secrétaire Général des rencontres de l’Audiovisuel scientifique, director of Serddav puis du CNRSAV the Serdav puis du CNRS AV, Mariel Delorme, in charge of the manifestations at the Serddav puis au CNRSAV, J.Rouch, Directeur de Recherche au CN Genral Secretary of the Ethnographic Film Committee.
3 A.Leroi-Gourhan, “cinéma et sciences humaines- Le film ethnologique existe-t-il ? “La revue de géographie humaine et
d’ethnologie n̊3, 1948...”
3The parallax effect : The Impact of Aboriginal Media on Ethnographic film. Visual Anthropology Review, Volume 11, Number 2, Fall 1995
4Georges Henri Rivière 1897-1985. He founded the Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires in Paris. In 1936, he reorganised with Paul Rivet, the Musée Ethnographique du Trocadera which became Le Musée de l’Homme
collaborations with friends and throughout his career he built up a tribe of friends, all over the world.The Yanomami was the population selected because important audiovisual archives existed but also because one of his best friends, was Tim Ash, who produced Ax fight, a milestone film reference for all those involved in Visual Anthropology.
For the second Regards Comparés, Rouch decided to invite his friend and colleague John Marshall who was involved for many years with the Bushmen of Kalahari. Rouch admired the films of John Marshall and the topic was alsorelevant in terms of comparison, as many films have been produced about the Bushmen.It was a challenging approach and a peculiar moment, which underlined the implicit rules of the ethnographic film.As students, it was a magisterial class where the demonstration of ideas came naturally from the screen and also the discussions. The CNRS organised this event in the main cinema hall and researchers from all over the world who were interested in the Bushmen, filled the room. Historically, it was very resonant for a young scholar attending the event to listen to each specialist naming the Bushmen as theirs, “my Bushmen do things this way”…. “Mine are different…”. 1978 was a turning point and with the 80s approaching fast, the discussion evolved along with the perception of the ethnographers and filmmakers toward the people with whom they shared their fieldwork.
As Faye Ginsburg explained in one of her aticles,« …Yet, byjuxtaposing these different but related kinds of cinematicperspectives on culture, one can create a kind of parallax effect; if harnessed analytically, these "slightly different angles of vision" can offer a fuller comprehension of the complexity of the social phenomenon we call culture and those media representations that selfconsciously engage with it ».6 She alsoalso underlined the importance of this dynamic of Shared Anthropology :« …in Jean Rouch's longstanding commitment to and development of film as a vehicle for the creation of a "shared anthropology," in research, in production, in exhibition, in pedagogy, and in social action. First and foremost is his concern that one's knowledge about another culture be produced in a way that can be shared with members of that culture. »7
As students we were privileged as Rouch gave us the possibilities to meet and exchange with Tim Ash, Colin Young, Bob Gardner, John Marshall, Raymond Depardon, Michel Brault…. After the “Saturday morning” class at the Cinematheque which was part of the DEA and PHD 5Meyer Fortes 1906-1983. As anthropologist he worked among the Ashanti and Tallensi in Ghana and spent most of his career at Cambridge University and he was the Willima Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology.
6The parallax effect : The Impact of Aboriginal Media on Ethnographic film.Visual Anthropology Review, Volume 11, Number 2, Fall 1995
program, we shared lunch together and started lively discussions on films and projects real or imaginary…
As the Cinéma du Réel created in 1978 was rejecting films classified as ethnographic, Rouch became so upset he decided to create his own festival. In 1982, with Françoise Foucault they set up the frame and the informal team around the Ethnographic Film Committee, and started the event called le Bilan. The main idea was to have the freedom to present films which didn’t necessarily meet the criteria for TV classification or even for professional standards. During this period, students working on a PHD in Visual Anthropology were filming in Super8, a format that wasn’t recognised as a professional one. For Rouch, quality comes from the ways of looking, ways of establishing the relationship with the people being filmed and in your abilityto render this relationship on screen. Always sitting in the second row on the left side of the Museum of Mankind, Rouch would admire the grain, the dust, the smell of the film. It was crucial to present filmswhich didn’t fit the official format recognised by other festivals. He encouraged innovative approaches and fostered new styles among filmmakers, ethnographers and students in visual anthropology.
By recalling these two events, from their creation until today’s evolution, I would like to emphasize the role of these festivals in the academic landscape of this periodandalso the importance of funding in relation to the freedom of the Ethnographic Film Committee and to the spirit of these key moments in the visual anthropology network.
The Bilan was a significant encounterfor the visual anthropology network. Colleagues from the Institut für den Wissenschaftlichen Film in Göttingen, from the National Film and Television School, from Leiden University came with their students or participated as filmmakers (Peter Crawford, Beate Englebrecht, Paul Henley, Heimo Lapapleilen,, Dirk Nijland…). The Bilan gave rise to other manifestations such as the one in Göttingen in 1993.
One of the specificities of the Bilan was the funding process. As Rouch and Françoise Foucault were both paid by the CNRS, they dedicated their time to organising such events. The main cost was receiving and sending back the prints. The Committee received significant assistance with the diplomatic bag, accessible and ready to support in an informal way such events. The students, involved in a very easy-going way, were also completely dedicated to the event. They were happy to help just for the pleasure of sharing such encounters. Sometimes, the Committee was confronted with unexpected difficulties and Philippe Lourdou and myself were once told, a day before the event, that we’d have to manage the screenings and deal with the 35mm the 16mm or Super8mm projectors…. So much fun and such good memories;the singular
feelingof being part of an informal team united by Jean Rouch’s spirit and his insatiable desire to share knowledge, ways of life, ways of building bridges between people from all over the world. By writing these lines in Paris in 2015, I really feel we should find within ourselves the means to re-inject into the world the marvelous utopian energy that Rouch shared with us.
Of course, some researchers from the CNRS and even University professors continued to ignore such events and Rouch andFulchignoni had to fight against the academic system in order to create a space of expression for the students who make films as publications, and pursue film as a career.
Rouch was profoundly interested in creating moments and spaces for exchanging ideas and creativity, offering opportunities to reinvent the world. Each event, by being held repeatedly over years, wasinevitably taken up by theofficial systems and integrated slowly into the norm. It’s not a question of quality or originality but of social dynamic, and as soon as a platform becomes part of official programmes, it looses at some point its role as a pioneer.
In this spirit, in 2012 we created as part of the Bilan a new section called Narrativités Singulières in order to open the space for people questioning the linearity of the audio-visualmediumand for people dealing with programming language as a tool of expression. The manifestation is organised in a Digital Art Center called Le Cube; it invites people concerned with this dynamic to break through the norms of the prevailing academic system andclaim the key role of creation as a methodology. I can hear Rouch’s voice,saying one more time,‘Cric Crac’… as if he is still provoking us and inviting us to breathe new creative energies into our work and to “détourne“ tiressly all new forms of constraint that are imposed by the current socio-economic system.
Short Bio: N Wanono, former PHD student of Jean Rouch; she worked with him during her field work among the Dogon and also during the Mozambique workshop organised in the 78. She is actually tenure researcher at the CNRSIMAF. She produced several films and co directed with Philippe Lourdou In the Shadow of the Sun, funeral and enthronement of the Hogon
of Arou,83mn, Arte 1997. She co edited a book: Creation and diffusion in Visual anthropology. From 2012, she conceived with colleagues of her, a manifestation “ Digital anthropologies” in Le Cube, Digital Art Centre. She is the chief editor of Anthrovision, online journal of the Vaneasa network.
Donald, Merlin. 1991. Origins of the modern mind: Three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bibliography
France de Claudine. 1979. Pour une anthropologie Visuelle, Cahiers de l’Homme, Mouton Editeur and Ecoles des hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. Paris.
Ginsburg, Faye. 1995. The Parallax Effect: The impact of Aboriginal Media on Ethnographic Film. Visual Anthropology Review, Volume 11, Number 2.
Leroy Gourhan, André. 1948. Cinéma et sciences humaines- Le film ethnologique existe-t-il ? “La revue de ge ographie humaine et d’ethnologie n̊3 Gallimard, Paris.
ROUCH J., 1979. « La Caméra et les hommes ». In Claudine de France, Pour une
anthropologie visuelle, (dir.), Paris, Mouton : 53-71.
Saghy Lajos, 1982. Des regards compares, III, manifestation organisée par le Comité international des Films de l'Homme, In: Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer, tome 69, n°255, pp. 149-151
Wanono, Nadine. 2004 « Le film, miroir sans tain de la société dogon ? », Journal des
Africanistes 71(1) : 83-91. Translation available: Film, two way mirror of the Dogon’s
Society https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00333864
