[ecrea] Symposium: “Film Criticism in Arts magazine (1952-1966).” (10 June 2014, ICA, London)

“Film Criticism in Arts magazine (1952-1966).

Godard, Rivette, Rohmer and Truffaut away from Bazin's paradoxes”



Date: June the 10th, 2014



Location: ICA Studio, Institute of Contemporary Arts (London, The Mall).



Famously, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer and François 
Truffaut all wrote for the Cahiers du Cinéma journal (run by André 
Bazin) before becoming renowned filmmakers. Yet, at the same time, they 
all also wrote for Arts, a largely polemical and politically 
controversial weekly magazine that was no less decisive in imposing 
their “politique des auteurs”, the cult of cinematic authorship that 
proved immensely influential on film culture ever since. This symposium 
aims to reconsider the articles they published on Arts, a body of 
writings that is certainly neglected, little-studied and in some cases 
downright unknown: around twenty articles by Rivette and over 150 by 
Rohmer were not even listed in any known bibliography until very 
recently. In so doing, it will provide a more accurate view of what the 
“politique des auteurs” originally was (most notably as regards its 
theoretical premises), also in order to engage with the still ongoing, 
very lively debate on cinematic authorship. More generally, this event 
intends to contribute to the current rediscovery of that crucial period 
of French film criticism, brought forth among others by the 
shortly-forthcoming, recently-announced publication of André Bazin’s 
integral corpus of writings, and by the fresh release of a new, 
important biography on Eric Rohmer shedding a new light on his criticism.



In order to attend the symposium, no admission fee is required. However, 
registration prior to the event is mandatory: please send an email 
containing name, surname and affiliation (if any) to 
(filmcriticismarts /at/ gmail.com) . French/English simultaneous interpretation 
through headphones will be provided.



The organization of the conference has been made possible thanks to the 
joint contribution of the Kent Institute for Advanced Studies in the 
Humanities (KIASH), of the Aesthetics Research Centre  (University of 
Kent), of the Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Film and the 
Moving Image (University of Kent), and of “Traverser Bazin”, an ongoing 
research project led by Prof. Hervé Joubert-Laurencin and recipient of 
the prestigious LABEX grant (Laboratoire d’excellence des arts et 
médiations humaines).



Programme:



11am: Registration

11:15am: Introduction

11:30am: Prof. Marc Dambre (Université de Paris III – Sorbonne 
Nouvelle): “Arts et hussards dans leur temps: 1954-1960”

12:20am: Respondent: Zahra Tavassoli Zea (University of Kent)

12:30am: Dr. Douglas Morrey (University of Warwick): “Jacques Rivette's 
Film Criticism for Arts”

1:20am: Respondent: Dr. Cecilia Sayad

1:30am: Lunch (not offered)

2:30pm: Prof. Antoine de Baecque (Université de Paris X – Nanterre): 
“Eric Rohmer critique de cinéma pour Arts”

3:20pm: Respondent: Dr. Richard Misek (University of Kent)

3:30pm: Dr. Marco Grosoli (University of Kent): “The Author Policy and 
its Political Underside. Arts in the wider context of the ‘Politique des 
auteurs’”

4:20pm: Respondent: Dominic Topp (University of Kent)

4:30pm: Break

5pm: Prof. Hervé Joubert-Laurencin (Université de Paris X – Nanterre): 
“André Bazin et la revue Arts”

5:50pm: Respondent: Dr. Mattias Frey (University of Kent)

6pm: Final discussion



MARC DAMBRE is Emeritus Professor of Modern and Contemporary French 
Literature at the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle. He is the author of 
Roger Nimier Hussard du demi-siècle (Flammarion, 1989), has looked after 
the publication of Nimier's works and edited the collections Les 
Hussards. Une génération littéraire (Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2000) 
and Roger Nimier (Cahier de l’Herne, 2012). As regards contemporary 
literature, he has founded CERACC (UMR Thalim) Research Centre, and led 
a seminar with Bruno Blanckeman. He has co-edited several works for the 
Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, among which L’Exception et la France 
contemporaine (2010), Romanciers minimalistes (1979-2003) (2012) and 
Mémoires occupées. Fictions françaises et Seconde Guerre mondiale (2013).



DOUGLAS MORREY is Associate Professor of French at the University of 
Warwick. He is the author of Jean-Luc Godard (Manchester University 
Press, 2005) and the co-author of Jacques Rivette (Manchester University 
Press, 2009). He is currently researching a study entitled ‘The Legacy 
of the New Wave in French cinema’.



ANTOINE DE BAECQUE is Professor of History of Cinema at the University 
of Paris Ouest-Nanterre. He has authored several articles and books 
about cinema, particularly regarding the history of Cahiers du Cinéma 
journal (for which he has also been the editor in chief between 1996 and 
1998). A publisher and a biographer (of Truffaut with Serge Toubiana, 
and of Godard), he has published in 2014 (with Noel Herpe) a biography 
of Eric Rohmer also containing some previously unpublished texts by the 
critic/director. His published works include La Cinéphilie. Invention 
d'un regard, histoire d'une culture. 1944-1968 (Paris, 2003).



MARCO GROSOLI earned a Ph.D. in Film Studies from the University of 
Bologna; his dissertation regarded the integral corpus of writings (2600 
articles) by film critic and theorist André Bazin. He is currently a 
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Kent 
(Canterbury). He has co-edited (with Monica Dall'Asta) a volume about 
the cinema of Guy Debord, and one (with Jean-Baptiste Massuet) about the 
use of motion/performance capture in recent cinema. He has published on 
several academic journals and edited collections, among which Fata 
Morgana, Il Mulino, Cinema & Cie. He collaborates also with various 
movie journals, such as Film Comment, La Furia Umana, 
Sentieriselvaggi.it, Filmidee.it, Spietati.it.



HERVÉ JOUBERT-LAURENCIN is Professor of Aesthetics and History of Cinema 
at the University of Paris Ouest-Nanterre, where he also directs the 
HAR-Cinéma research team. His main research interests are Pier Paolo 
Pasolini, the writings about cinema and animation cinema. He is 
currently leading a triennial international research project called 
“Traverser Bazin. Ecrits suscités par le cinéma” 
(http://labex-arts-h2h.fr/traverser-bazin.html). His published works 
include Opening Bazin. Postwar Film Theory and Its Afterlife (co-edited 
with Dudley Andrew, Oxford University Press, 2011), Ouvrir Bazin 
(co-edited with Dudley Andrew, Montreuil, 2014), Le sommeil paradoxal. 
Ecrits sur André Bazin (Montreuil, 2014).



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