Subject Guide to French Cinema Resources

Back to French Studies

Below you will find a variety of resources for researching French and Francophone cinema: tools for ready reference questions (such as film dictionaries and encyclopedias); access to journal articles about French/Francophone film; citations of books and links to websites about French and Francophone film history, criticism (including film reviews), and theory; sources on French film directors and on the plots and themes of renowned French films; and more. This page is still under construction; more resources (and more annotations to resources already cited) will be added. Many thanks to Professor Margaret C. Flinn of the French Department and to Bob Cagle of the English Library for their guidance and for their numerous suggestions of sources to include here.

Note: For a listing of French films available at UIUC, do a subject search for "motion pictures, French" in the online catalog.

Reference Tools (Dictionaries, Guides, and Bibliographies, etc.)
Find Articles about Cinema (Indexes and Journals)
Film History, Criticism, and Theory
Directors, Filmographies, Plots and Themes
Additional Websites for Film Studies

Reference Tools

Film Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
Guides
Bibliographies

Film Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Vocabulary

791.4303 J827v (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Reference)
Journot, Marie-Thérèse.  Le vocabulaire du cinéma.  Paris: Nathan, 2002.  125 p.

This handy little dictionary includes over 500 entries on terminology used by film specialists.  Entries include examples and cross-references.  Also provided is a bibliography of other film dictionaries and of general works on cinema.

791.4303 M769M (Main Stacks)
Montvalon, Christine de. Les mots du cinéma. Français retrouvé. Paris: Belin, c1987. 511 p. with illustrations.

From "A (film)" (meaning A-list movie) to "Zorro", this French-language dictionary includes entries on popular expressions from the movies as well as technical cinematographic terms. Informative and entertaining.

A Glossary of Film Terms

This English-language online glossary provides definitions for many technical filmmaking terms. Includes an alphabetical and subject index for browsing as well as recommendations of a few useful print works and links to related websites. (As the site's creator notes, it does take some time for the glossary and index to load at first, but once they are in a browser's cache access becomes a bit quicker.)

On French Cinema

791.430944 N622 (Main Stacks)
Prédal, René, dir. 900 cinéastes français d’aujourd’hui: dictionnaire. Collection "Septième art", 85. [Paris]: Cerf : Télérama, c1988. 515 p.

This volume offers biographies, filmographies, critical analyses, and bibliographies for 900 French filmmakers, each of whom directed at least one feature-length film between 1970 and the dictionary's publication in 1988.

791.430944 M283C (Main Stacks)
Maillot, Pierre. Le cinéma français: de Renoir à Godard. Paris: MA Editions, c1988. 325 p. with illustrations.

This dictionary, which focuses on cinema from the 1930s to the 1970s, offers entries on people, films, places, and themes. Includes indexes of film titles and of people and topics.

On Francophone Cinema

016.79143096 C49 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref.)
Les cinémas d'Afrique: dictionnaire. Paris: Karthala: Editions ATM, 2000. 592 p.

This dictionary presents entries on African directors from 54 African countries and the Caribbean. There are also indexes by film titles and by countries of origin.

Q.016.79143023 Sh65d (Africana Ref. and Undergraduate Library)
Shiri, Keith, ed. Directory of African film-makers and films. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, c1992. xiv, 194 p.

A reference guide to African directors from 29 different countries and states who actively produced feature, documentary, and animated films from the 1930s to the book's publication in 1992. Arranged alphabetically by the directors' last names, entries provide brief biographical information and a filmography for each director. There are indexes by country and film title and a general index that includes educational institutions, organizations, film bodies and companies, titles of books and plays, and film personalities other than the directors listed as main entries.

016.79143096 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref.)
Dictionnaire du cinéma africain. Paris: Karthala: Ministère de la coopération et du développement, c1991- .

Organized by country of origin, this dictionary offers filmographies of over 400 directors from 36 African countries. There are indexes by the directors' names and film titles.

791.43092 Ar54d (Africana Ref.)
Armes, Roy. Dictionary of North African film makers = Dictionnaire des cinéastes du Maghreb. Collection Caméra des trois mondes; v. 2. Bilingual ed., English/French. Paris, France: Editions ATM, 1996. 169, 166 p.

791.43750956 C738 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref.)
Leaman, Oliver. Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film. London and New York: Routledge, 2001. 607 p.

Includes a chapter on cinema in the Maghreb (pp. 420-517), which will be of particular interest to scholars of Francophone film. Provides filmographies and information about filmmakers from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. At the back of the volume are a general index, a name index, and a film index.

791.4309714 D561 1999 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref.)
Coulombe, Michel and Marcel Jean, eds. Le dictionnaire du cinéma québécois. Montréal: Boréal, 1999.

An inventory of Québécois cinema from its origins to the year 2000, this volume offers information on directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, actors, producers, etc. There are general entries on the history of several important aspects of cinema (such as distribution and film journals), entries on specific films, and entries on significant figures in Québécois cinema. At the back of the volume are the main credits for 400 films, followed by a bibliography.

On World Cinema

Q.791.430341 D549 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref.)
Passek, Jean Loup, dir., assisté de Michel Ciment, Claude Michel Cluny, Jean-Pierre Frouard. Dictionnaire du cinéma. Paris: Larousse, c1986. xiv, 888 p., with black-and-white and color illustrations.

This encyclopedic dictionary features over 4,700 articles on the artistic, historic, technical, and economic aspects of cinema, from its beginning to the late 20th century. There are entries on important people in cinema, film genres, technical terms, film festivals, and more. Also includes the main credits of 2,001 films and a substantial bibliography.

Q. 791.4309 In82000 (English Library Ref. and Undergraduate Library Ref.)
Pendergast, Tom and Sara Pendergast.  International dictionary of films and filmmakers. 4th ed. Detroit: St. James Press, c2000. 4 v. with illustrations.

791.4303 SA15DI1982 (Main Stacks)
Sadoul, Georges. Dictionnaire des films. (New edition.) Microcosme. [Paris] : Seuil, [1982], c1965. 345 p. with illustrations.

Entries on about 1,200 international films, at least 95% of which the author has himself viewed. Each entry includes country and year of the film's release, name of director, leads, and other significant contributors, information on the plot, and often some critical commentary by the author.

791.4303 SA15D1982 (Main Stacks)
Sadoul, Georges. Dictionnaire des cinéastes. (New edition.) Microcosme. [Paris]: Seuil, [1982], c1965. 302 p. with illustrations.

About 1,000 entries on international directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, set designers, musicians, producers, historians, inventors, etc. Each entry includes basic biographical information and titles and dates of most important films. Several entries are accompanied by a photos of the filmmakers. At the end of the volume is a bibliography.

791.4303 K836C (Communications Ref. and Main Stacks)
Konigsberg, Ira. The complete film dictionary.  New York: New American Library, c1987.  viii, 420 p. with illustrations.

791.4303 K15f2005 (English Library Ref.)
Katz, Ephraim. The film encyclopedia: [the most comprehensive encyclopedia of world cinema in a single volume] 5th ed. / revised by Fred Klein & Ronald Dean Nolen.  New York: Collins, c2005. 1542 p.

791.4303 D561 (Main Stacks)
Horvilleur, Gilles, dir. Dictionnaire des personnages du cinéma. Paris: Bordas, 1988. 557 p. with illustrations.

Alphabetically-arranged entries on characters and stereotypical roles from the world of film, beginning with "abbé (voir prêtre)," "Abbott et Costello," "académicien," and "accusé," and ending with "zoophile," "Zorba," "Zorro," and "Zoulou." Includes indexes of actors and films mentioned throughout the volume.

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Guides

791.430944 V743C (English Library Ref.)
Vincendeau, Ginette.  The companion to French cinema.  London : Cassell : British Film Institute, 1996.  xii, 202 p. with illustrations.

791.4303 H335k2000 (English Library Ref.)
Hayward, Susan.  Cinema studies: the key concepts. 2nd ed. Routledge key guides. London; New York : Routledge, 2000. xx, 528 p.

791.43 In81 (English Library)
Nelmes, Jill, ed.  An introduction to film studies.  2nd ed.  London; New York : Routledge, 1999. xviii, 522 p. with  illustrations.

791.430944 R248 (Main Stacks)
Bandy, Mary Lea. Rediscovering French film. With an introduction by Richard Roud. New York: Museum of Modern Art; Boston: Distributed by New York Graphic Society Books, Little, Brown, c1983. 220 p. with illustrations.

791.43096 R917g (Africana/Afro-Americana Ref., English Ref., and Main Stacks)
Russell, Sharon A. Guide to African cinema. Reference guides to the world's cinema. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998. xv, 183 p.

791.430971 G941 (English Library Ref.)
Rist, Peter Harry, ed. Guide to the cinema(s) of Canada. Reference guides to the world's cinema. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. xxv, 303 p. 

791.430971 T139 (English Library)
Wise, Wyndham, ed. Take one’s Essential guide to Canadian film. Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, c2001. xiv, 272 p.

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Bibliographies

016.79143 H122f (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref.)
Hagener, Malte and Michael Töteberg. Film, an international bibliography. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2002. x, 479 p.

A total of some 12,000 titles in the following categories: reference works; film history; national cinematographies; monographs; theory, criticism, and publishing; technology; politics, economy, and law; and TV, (multi-)media, and video. Includes indexes of authors and films.

016.79143096 Sch55s1988 (Africana Ref.)
Schmidt, Nancy. Sub-Saharan African Films and Filmmakers: An Annotated Bibliography. = Films et Cinéastes Africains de la Région Subsaharienne: Une Bibliographie Commentée. London; New Jersey: Hans Zell Publishers, 1994. ix, 468 p.

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Find Articles about Cinema

Indexes to Articles on Film
Journals on Cinema

Indexes to Articles about Film

016.79143 IN82 (English Library Ref.)
International Index to Film Periodicals. New York: R. R. Bowker Co., 1972-

927.92 M364F (Main Stacks)
France. Screen series. London: Zwemmer; New York, A. S. Barnes, 1971. 191 p. with illustrations and portraits.

The following electronic indexes provide access to articles about French films. Most are available via Online Research Resources:

Index to Film Periodicals
FIAF International FilmArchive Database
CASC (a.k.a. Film and Television Literature Index; a.k.a. Film Literature Index)
MLA International Bibliography (a.k.a. American Bibliography; a.k.a. MLA American Bibliography)

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Journals on Cinema

Please Note: Some of these journals are devoted exclusively to film; others also treat other cultural media, such as literature, but do frequently include articles about cinema. Dates in parentheses refer to issues available via Online Research Resources. Dates outside of parentheses refer to issues available in print at the given locations.

Avant-scène du cinéma – in Main Stacks at 791.43 Av15

Cahiers du cinéma – 1951-present in Main Stacks at Q. 792.505 CA; current and most recent issues in Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library

Camera Obscura (5/1997-present); 1976-present in English Library at 791.437 C144

Cineaction! (1/2006-present); 1985-2006 in English Library at 791.43705 CI

Le Cinéma français. -- 1977-1980 in Main Stacks at Q.791.4305 CIF

Cinema Journal (1961-present); 1961-present in English Library at 791.4305 CIN

Critical Inquiry (1974-present); 1974-present in English Library at 801.905 CR

Diacritics (1971-2003); 1971-2005 in English Library at 801.905 DI>

Differences (1/1993-present); 1989-2005 in Main Stacks at 305.4205 DI; more recent issues in Women’s Studies Reading Room

Discourse: Berkeley journal for theoretical studies in media and culture (2000-present); 1979-2003 in Communications Library at 302.2305 DI

L'Esprit Créateur (2006-present); 1961-2005 in Main Stacks at 840.5 ES; more recent issues in Modern Languages & Linguistics Library

Film Comment (1/1988-present); 1962-present in English Library at 791.4305 FC

Film Culture (6/1992-12/1996); 1957-1976 in Main Stacks and 1955-1996 in English Library at Q. 792.505 FILC

French Forum (1976-present); 1976-2005 in Main Stacks at 840.5 FRE; more recent issues in Modern Languages & Linguistics Library

French Review(1927-2001); 1927-2001 in Main Stacks at 440.5 FRE; last 5 years in Modern Languages & Linguistics Library

GLQ: a journal of lesbian and gay studies (1/1997-present); 1993-1995 in Main Stacks at 305.9066405 GL; 1995-2006 in Education library

The Journal of Popular Film & Television: JPF&T (1/1972-present); 1978-2006 in English Library at 791.4305 JO1

Literature-Film Quarterly (1/1973-present); 1973-present in English library at 791.4305 LI

October (1976-present); 1976-present in Architecture & Art Library at 705 OC

Positif -- 1956-2005 in Main Stacks at Q.791.4305 PO; 2006-2007 in Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library

Postmodern Culture (9/1990-present); 1992-present on diskette in English Library at FDSK 700.904805 PO

Screen (4/2006-present)

Sight and Sound (1932-present); 1933-present in English Library at Q.792.505 SI (1991-present at English Reserve Desk)

Social Text (1979-present); 1985-1995 in Main Stacks at 303.405 SO; last 10 years in Education Library

Studies in French Cinema (1/2001-present)

SubStance (1971-present); 1971-2005 in Main Stacks at 805 SUB; 2006-present in Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library

Technology and Culture (1959-present); 1960-2006 in Main Stacks at 609.05 TEC; recent issues in History, Newspaper & Philosophy Library

The Velvet Light Trap (1973-present); 1971-2007 in English Library

Wide Angle (1/1996-10/1999); 1977-1999 in English Library at 791.4305 WI

Yale French Studies (1948-2004); 1949-2001 in Main Stacks at 840.5 YA; 2002-present in Mod. Lang. and Ling. Library

Note:  For a complete list of the nearly 100 online journals about film available through UIUC (including those listed above and others), go to Online Research Resources, select the tab that reads "Journals & Newspapers" and then, under "Arts & Humanities," select "film."  These journals do not all specialize in French cinema, but many may still be useful in researching specific French films.

Available on the World Wide Web

Bright Lights Film Journal -- http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/

Film-Philosophy -- http://www.film-philosophy.com/

Images: A Journal of Film and Popular Culture -- http://imagesjournal.com/index.html

Jumpcut -- http://www.ejumpcut.org/

Kamera -- http://www.kamera.co.uk/

Scope:  An Online Journal of Film Studies -- http://www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/

Senses of Cinema -- http://www.sensesofcinema.com/

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Film History, Criticism, and Theory

Histories of French Cinema
Film Reviews
Francophone Cinema
Social Aspects of French/Francophone Cinema
Influence of French Cinema
Literature and Cinema
Film Theory
Dissertations

Histories of French Cinema

General Histories

EBO.F02/2007.85 (Main Stacks--Request Only; will soon be housed in Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Pinel, Vincent. Cinéma français. [Paris]: Cahiers du cinéma, c2006. 318 p. with black-and-white and color illustrations.

This beautifully illustrated work discusses French film in the context of three major periods: from the beginning of cinema to the end of the silent film era (the Lumière brothers, Méliès, Fantômas...), from the 1930s through the 1950s (René Clair, Jean Renoir, Simone Signoret...), and from the Nouvelle Vague to the present (Alain Resnais, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Isabelle Huppert, Gérard Depardieu, le cinéma du réel...). Includes a chronology of French cinema at the back of the volume.

791.430944 H629 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Beylie, Claude, dir. Une histoire du cinéma français. Paris: Larousse, 2000. 277 p. with black-and-white illustrations.

This volume includes a collection of essays that treat the history of French cinema both chronologically (from the "années 'Lumière'" to recent years) and thematically (by discussions of Francophone cinema, short films, animation, economics and politics, conservation and restoration) as well as brief dictionaries of important people in French cinema and of films. Appendices provide information on the number of feature films produced in France since 1919, lists of French films featured in international festivals and of those that have won major film awards, and a list of the biggest box office successes.

Q.791.430944 C374c (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Chardère, Bernard. Le cinéma français à travers 100 succès. Paris: Larousse, 2003. 239 p. with black-and-white and color film stills and illustrations.

This large volume traces the history of French cinema from its origins in the silent films of Lumière and Méliès to the beginning of the 21st century, providing information and essays about 100 influential French films along with beautiful film stills from them. This engaging introduction to French cinema may well inspire readers to look for these films and to research them further.

791.430944 H6292 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref.)
Douin, Jean-Luc et Daniel Couty, dirs.  Histoire(s) de films français:  réalisateurs, acteurs, scénaristes... Paris: Bordas, 2005.  800 p.

Essays on about 100 French films, presented in chronological order of production/release, from the Lumi ère brothers' Arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat (1896) to Jacquot's A tout de suite and Kechiche's L'Esquive (both released in 2004).  This volume seeks to recount a history of cinema through these analyses of landmark films, telling the stories of each movie, its director, actors, etc.  Includes a brief preface, a general bibliography, a bibliography containing works on specific films, and indexes of the films, directors, actors, and other individuals influential in the world of French cinema.

791.430944 F8872000 (English and Mod. Lang. & Ling. Libraries)
Hayward, Susan and Ginette Vincendeau, eds.  French Film:  Texts and Contexts.  2nd edition.  London and New York:  Routledge, 2000.  348 p. with black-and-white film stills.

This volume offers scholarly analyses of 22 influential French films produced from the 1930s through the 1990s, from Marcel Pagnol's trilogy (Marius, Fanny, and César) and Renoir's Le Crime de Monsieur Lange to Besson's Nikita and Kassovitz's La Haine. Each essay includes a guide to further reading and a filmography of the director. A bibliography of reference works and works on film history and criticism is also included at the end of the textbook.

791.430944 L299f (English Library and Undergraduate Library)
Lanzoni, Rémi Fournier. French cinema: from its beginnings to the present. New York: Continuum, 2002. 496p. with illustrations.

025.17730944 M316h (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Mannoni, Laurent. Histoire de la cinémathèque française. Paris: Gallimard, 2006. 507 p. with illustrations.

This history traces 70 years of the Cinémathèque français, from its opening in the 1930s, through the fear and incertitude of the 1940s, the New Wave of the 1950s and 1960s, the Malraux years, the Langlois affair, and the Costa-Gavras years, to its direction under Serge Toubiana beginning in April 2003. Includes an index of proper names.

791.430944 P875f (Undergraduate Library; Temporarily Shelved at Undergrad Reserves)
Powrie, Phil and Keith Reader. French cinema: a student’s guide. London: Arnold, 2002. 212 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 F887 (Undergraduate Library; Temporarily Shelved at Undergrad Reserves)
Temple, Michael and Michael Witt, eds. The French cinema book. London: BFI Pub., 2004. 294 p. with illustrations.

790 B234c (Main Stacks)
Barbin, Pierre. La cinémathèque française: inventaire et légendes, 1936-1986. Paris: Vuibert, c2005. 210 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 H335f2005 (English Library; Temporarily Shelved at Undergrad Reserves)
Hayward, Susan. French national cinema. 2nd ed. National cinemas series. London; New York: Routledge, 2005. xii, 378 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 W67R (English Library)
Williams, Alan. Republic of images: a history of French filmmaking. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992. 458 p. with illustrations.

791.4309 L518C (Main Stacks)
Leenhardt, Roger. Chroniques de ciné´ma. Cahiers du cinéma. Ecrits. Paris: Editions de l'Etoile, c1986. 236, [4] p. with illustrations.

791.430944 AR54F (Main Stacks)
Armes, Roy. French cinema. London: Secker & Warburg, 1985. 310 p. with photos.

Q.791.4309 Sk41f 2002 (English, Undergraduate, and University High Libraries)
Sklar, Robert. A world history of film. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2002. 600 p. with black-and-white and color illustrations.

791.43 V948 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Aumont, Jacques, dir. Les voyages du spectateur: de l'imaginaire au cinéma. Conférences du Collège d'Histoire de l'Art Cinématographique 2003-2004. Paris: L. Scheer: Cinémathèque française, 2004. 338 p. with illustrations. Accompanied by a DVD of Philippe Garrel's film Le Révélateur (1968).

These essays, which discuss a total of about 20 international films released between 1928 and 1992, focus on the cinema's capacity to awaken the imagination. Includes papers on Cocteau's L'Aigle à deux têtes, Malle's Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, Bresson's Au hasard Balthazar, Rohmer's Les Nuits de pleine lune, and Garrel's Le Révélateur (a DVD of this film accompanies the book).

Encarta Encyclopedia: "French Cinema"

This online encyclopedia article offers a basic history of French cinema, from silent films to the first sound films, to French cinema after World War II, to recent developments in French films and speculations and the future of French film.

Late 19th-Century and Early 20th-Century Cinema

DVD 791.43 L971k (Undergraduate Media Collection)
The Lumière Brothers' first films [videorecording]. New York: Kino on Video; [Chatsworth, CA: Image Entertainment [distributor], c1998.

This 61-minute DVD offers a "look at the birth of the motion picture through 85 of the more than 1,500 films made by the Lumière Brothers between 1895 and 1897. These films include views of Moscow, New York, Paris, Saigon, and Jerusalem; vignettes of life in France; and comedy shorts." Commentary in English and French.

791.430903 En192 (English and Undergrad Ref.)
Abel, Richard, ed. Encyclopedia of early cinema. London; New York: Routledge, 2005. xxx, 791 p. with illustrations.

791.43 M867N (Oak Street Facility)
Moussinac, Le´on. Naissance du cinéma. Paris: J. Povolozky, c1925. 178 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 AB35F (English Library and Main Stacks)
Abel, Richard. French cinema: the first wave, 1915-1929. Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, c1984. xxi, 672 p. with illustrations.

791.43084 AB35C (English Library)
Abel, Richard. The ciné goes to town: French cinema, 1896-1914. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1994. xxiii, 568 p. with illustrations.

Q.791.4309 C333 (Main Stacks)
Gaudréault, André, dir. Ce que je vois de mon ciné-- : la représentation du regard dans le cinéma des premiers temps. [Paris]: Méridiens Klincksieck, 1988. 174 p. with illustrations.

791.4309 D7143c (Main Stacks)
Gaudréault, André, Catherine Russell, and Pierre Véronneau, dirs. Le cinématographe, nouvelle technologie du XXe siècle = The cinema, a new technology for the 20th century. Lausanne: Payot Lausanne, c2004. 398 p. with illustrations.

791.4309 H6292 (Main Stacks)
Gaudréault, André. L’Histoire du cinéma: nouvelles approches: colloque de Cerisy. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1989. 209 p.

791.430944 C698P (Main Stacks)
Guibbert, Pierre, ed. Les Premiers ans du cinéma français: [actes du Ve colloque international de l'Institut Jean Vigo]. Collection des Cahiers de la cinèmathèque. Perpignan: L'Institut Jean Vigo, c1985. 319 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 V757 (Main Stacks)
Lagny, Michel et al. Les vingt premières années du cinéma français: actes du colloque international de la Sorbonne nouvelle, 4, 5 et 6 novembre 1993. Paris: Presses de la Sorbonne nouvelle: Editions de l’AFRHC, c1995. 510 p. with illustrations.

792.5 SA1H1973 (Vol. 1 in Main Stacks; Vol. 3 in Undergraduate Library)
Sadoul, Georges. Histoire générale du cinéma. 2nd edition. Paris, Denoël, [1973] 1948- Vol 1. L'invention du cinéma 1832-1897. Vol. 2. Les pionniers du cinéma 1897-1909. Vol. 3. Le cinéma devient un art 1909-1920.

Films of the 1920s

791.4309 M69H (Main Stacks)

Mitry, Jean. Histoire du cinéma. Tome 3: 1923-1930: Art et industrie. Encyclopédie universitaire. Paris: Éditions universitaires, 1973. 630 p. with illustrations.

Films of the 1930s

French Films of the 1930s

This website offers information on several landmark French films of the 1930s as well as on important directors and actors of the era. Includes a chronology as well as a "resources and references" section that gives information about film screenings in several U.S. cities (also in Vancouver and Paris), a bibliography, and links to related websites.

791.430944 C868g (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Crisp, C. G. Genre, myth, and convention in the French cinema, 1929-1939. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2002. 460 p. with illustrations. Includes bibliographical references (p. [431]-433) and indexes. Filmography: p. 380-420.

791.43658 Sl16c (English Library)
Slavin, David Henry. Colonial cinema and imperial France, 1919-1939: white blind spots, male fantasies, settler myths. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. xv, 300 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 AN25M (English and Undergraduate Libraries)
Andrew, James Dudley. Mists of regret: culture and sensibility in classic French film. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, c1995. xv, 409 p. with illustrations.

Films of the 1940s and 1950s

791.4309 B34C:E (Main Stacks and English Library)
Bazin, André. French cinema of the occupation and the resistance: the birth of a critical esthetic. New York: F. Ungar Pub. Co., c1981. viii, 166 p.

791.4309 B34C (Main Stacks)
Bazin, André. Le cinéma de l’occupation et de la résistance. [Paris]: Union générale d’éditions, c1975. 194 p.

791.437 B348C (Main Stacks)
Bazin, André. Le cinéma français de la libération à la nouvelle vague, 1945-1958. Paris: Editions de l’Etoile-Cahiers du cinéma, 1983. 255 p. with illustrations.

384.80944 EH89C (Main Stacks and Undergraduate Library)
Ehrlich, Evelyn. Cinema of paradox: French filmmaking under the German occupation. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985. 235 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 SI12F (Main Stacks)
Siclier, Jacques. La France de Pétain et son cinéma. Collection "L'Histoire en question." [Paris]: H. Veyrier, c1981. 460 p. with illustrations.

Q.791.43750944 B445H (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref.)
Bessy, Maurice. Histoire du cinéma français: encyclopédie des films 1940-1950. Paris: Pygmalion, c1986-c1987; 596 p. with black-and-white film stills and illustrations.

Includes brief filmographies of French films produced from 1940-1950 and beautiful, large stills from these films. There are indexes of proper names (directors, actors, etc.) and film titles.

791.430944 C445Q (Main Stacks)
Chirat, Raymond. La IVe république et ses films: interview de Micheline Presle. Bibliothèque du cinéma. [Paris?]: 5 Continents; Hatier, c1985. 175 p. with illustrations.

791.4375 B34b (English Library)
Bazin, André. Bazin at work: major essays & reviews from the forties & fifties. New York: Routledge, 1997. xvi, 252 p. with illustrations.

La Nouvelle Vague (a.k.a. French New Wave cinema; 1950-1970)

791.43611 N397h 2007 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Neupert, Richard John. A history of the French new wave cinema. 2nd edition. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002. 342 p. with illustrations.

This history begins with a look at the precursors to New Wave cinema, demonstrating how they would influence directors to follow; then discusses the "core group" of critics from Cahiers du Cinéma who became key directors of the New Wave (Truffaut, Chabrol, Godard...); next treats the work of Rohmer, Rivette, Doniol-Valcroze, and Kast; and, in a chapter new to this edition, explores the work of the Left Bank Group, which consisted of directors such as Resnais and Varda. Includes a bibliography and an index of proper names, film titles, and topics.

791.43658 C737a (Main Stacks)
Comolli, Jean-Louis. Les années pop: cinéma et politique, 1956-1970 / Jean-Louis Comolli, Gérard Leblanc, Jean Narboni, et une filmographie commentée. [Paris] : Bibliothèque publique d’information, Centre Pompidou, [c2001]. 127 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 N226 (Main Stacks)
Cléder, Jean and Gilles Mouellic, eds. Nouvelle vague, nouveaux rivages: permanences du récit au cinéma, 1950-1970. Collection "Interférences." Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2001. 282 p. Proceedings of a meeting held at the Université de Rennes, Mar. 2, 1999.

791.43611 N397h (English Library and Undergraduate Library)
Neupert, Richard. A history of the French new wave cinema. Wisconsin studies in film. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, c2002. xxix, 342 p. with illustrations.

791.43 SI1N (Main Stacks)
Siclier, Jacques. Nouvelle vague?  Collection "Septième art" Paris: Cerf, 1961. 132 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 D744n (Main Stacks)
Douchet, Jean and Cédric Anger. Nouvelle vague. Paris: Cinémathèque française: Hazan, 1998. 358 p. with black-and-white and color illustrations.

791.430944 N855 (Main Stacks)
Douin, Jean-Luc. La Nouvelle vague 25 ans après: dossier.  Collection "Septième art", 66. Paris: Cerf, 1983. 238 p. with illustrations.

791.430232092 N855 (Main Stacks)
Tassone, Aldo, dir. Que reste-t-il de la nouvelle vague? Paris: Stock, c2003. 349 p.

791.430944 M337n:E (English Library)
Marie, Michel. The French new wave: an artistic school. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2003. viii, 172 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 B144n (Main Stacks)
Baecque, Antoine de. La Nouvelle Vague: portrait d'une jeunesse. Générations. Paris: Flammarion, 1998. 159 p. with illustrations.

791.43 G54e (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Esquenazi, Jean-Pierre. Godard et la société française des années 1960. Armand Colin cinéma. Paris : A. Colin, 2004. x, 292 p. with illustrations.

A discussion of Godard in the context of changing French society, this work traces the evolution of the director from a young fan of Hollywood to an "enemy" of popular cinema in favor of his own form of the art. Includes an extensive bibliography and an index of proper names.

791.430944 (Main Stacks)
Buache, Freddy. Le cinéma français des années 60. Renens [Switzerland]: 5 Continents; [Paris]: Hatier, c1987. 191 p. with illustrations.

A study of the phenomenon of New Wave cinema in relation to its political context (in particular the Algerian war and the events leading up to the student revolution of May '68). Includes discussions of the works of Truffaut, Cavalier, Chabrol, Bresson, Resnais, and Godard. At the end of the volume are lists of the most important films released from 1958-1968, a bibliography, an index of proper names, and an index of film titles.

Q.791.430944 C492de (Main Stacks)
Comes, Philippe and Michel Marmin, dirs. Le Cinéma français, 1960-1985. Paris: Editions Atlas, c1985. 190 p. with black-and-white and color illustrations and portraits.

Films of the 1970s

791.430944 B85c1990 (Main Stacks)
Buache, Freddy. Le cinéma français des années 70. Renens [Switzerland]: 5 Continents; [Paris]: Hatier, 1990. 247 p. with illustrations.

This volume discusses the repercussions of May '68 in the world of cinema, populism and critical realism, psychological and social criticism, naturalist and fantastic cinema, and documentaries and animation. Directors treated include Chabrol, Costa-Gavras, Sautet, Melville, Deville, Berri, Tati, Godard, Rohmer, Blier, Tavernier, Malle, Bresson, Duras, Truffaut, and Resnais. A list of the most important films released from 1969-1979, a bibliography, an index of film titles, and an index of proper names are included at the end of the book.

Films of the 1990s

791.430944 F887 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Powrie, Phil, ed. French cinema in the 1990s: continuity and difference: essays. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. xv, 286 p. with illustrations.

A collection of 21 essays, divided into the following sections: "History, Heritage, and Pastiche"; "Inscribing Differences"; and "Defining the 'National'." Various films are discussed, including Germinal, Indochine, Un héros très discret, Ridicule, Les Visiteurs, La Haine, Les Amants de Pont-Neuf, Chacun cherche son chat, Mon Père ce héros, and Kieslowski's Trois couleurs trilogy.

791.430944 F8442 (English Library)
Mazdon, Lucy, ed.  France on film: reflections on popular French cinema.  London: Wallflower, 2001.  viii, 180 p.

This work includes essays on Jean de Florette, La Femme Nikita, Les Visiteurs, Karim Dridi's Bye-bye, Gazon maudit, Y aura-t-il de la neige à Noel?, Chacun cherche son chat, Un héros très discret, Ma vie en rose, Marius et Jeannette, and Catherine Breillat's Romance.  A bibliography and an index are also provided.

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Film Reviews

016.7914375 W649v (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref.)
VideoHound’s world cinema: the adventurer’s guide to movie watching. Detroit, MI: Visible Ink Press, c1999. xix, 551 p. with illustrations.

Reviews of over 800 films produced outside of the U.S. in the last 100 years, including films from Europe, the Middle East, and Canada. Entries are arranged alphabetically by the English title of the films. There are also sidebars on numerous directors and actors as well as indexes by master titles, countries of origin, cast, directors, writers, cinematographers, composers, and categories.

Q. 791.4375 G941 (Main Ref. and Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref.)
Allan, Elkan, ed. A Guide to world cinema: covering 7,200 films of 1950-84 including capsule reviews and stills from the programmes of the National Film Theatre, London. London: Whittet Books in association with the British Film Institute; Detroit, MI : Distributed in North America by Gale Research Co., 1985. v, 682 p. with illustrations.

Entries are presented in alphabetical order by film title. French and other non-English film titles are given in English translation. Includes an index of directors.

Movie Review Query Engine

This search engine allows searching for film reviews by movie title, keyword(s) from the title, or category (such as recent releases and winners of specific film festivals).

FilmCritic.com

Over 7,000 detailed English-language reviews of films from around the world.

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Francophone Cinema

General Francophone Sources

791.43658 Sl16c (English Library)
Slavin, David Henry. Colonial cinema and imperial France, 1919-1939: white blind spots, male fantasies, settler myths. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. xv, 300 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 (English Library)
Spaas, Lieve. The Francophone film: a struggle for identity. Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press; New York: distributed exclusively in the USA by St. Martin’s Press, 2000. xii, 290 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 C494 (English Library)
Sherzer, Dina. Cinema, colonialism, postcolonialism: perspectives from the French and francophone world. 1st ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996. 257 p.

Q.791.43091754 C49 (Main Stacks)
Bossaerts, Marc and Catherine Van Geel. Cinéma d'en francophonie. Bruxelles, Belgique: F.I.F.F-Solibel, 1995. 139 p. with illustrations and portraits.

On African Cinema

791.43096 Ar549a (English Library)
Armes, Roy. African filmmaking: North and South of the Sahara. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. xii, 224 p. with illustrations.

791.436 T219d (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Tcheuyap, Alexie. De l'écrit à l'écran: Les réécritures filmiques du roman africain francophone. Ottawa: Les Presses, de l'Université d'Ottawa, 2005. 229 p. with black-and-white photos.

This work uses semiotics, poetics, and post-colonial theory to examine cinematic adaptations of African novels. Includes a bibliography of primary sources, criticism, and literary and film theory.

791.43096 Uk1q (English Library)
Ukadike, Nwachukwu Frank. Questioning African Cinema: Conversations with Filmmakers. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2002. xxi, 319 p.

Ukadike's interviews with filmmakers from twelve African countries explore the historical, social, economic, pedagogical, and political forces that have influenced African cinema in recent decades. These conversations also probe the individual styles and outlooks of the 20 filmmakers who participated in the project. Each interview is preceded by introductory information on the filmmaker in question and followed by a filmography of his/her works.

Q.791.430965 Al31 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)--Choukroun, Jacques and François de La Bretèque. Algé́rie d’hier et d’aujourd’hui. Cahiers de la cinémathèque; no. 76. Perpignan : Institut Jean Vigo, 2004. 127 p. with illustrations.

This special issue of Les Cahiers de la cinémathèque is organized in two parts that, together, present the evolution of films produced in Algeria: "Le cinéma colonial" and "Le cinéma depuis l'Indépendance." The conclusion of the issue looks to the future of Algerian cinema and emphasizes the importance of protecting and distributing films made in Algeria as well as films made by Algerians abroad.

791.430967 T325a (Main Stacks and Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Thackway, Melissa. Africa shoots back: alternative perspectives in Sub-Saharan Francophone African film. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2003. x, 230 p. with illustrations.

Thackway presents a brief history of sub-Saharan Francophone African film in her introduction, then goes on to discuss Eurocentrism, postmodernism vs. postcoloniality and the need for new critical paradigms, cultural identity and voice, orature and film, memory and history, filming the immigrant experience, and African women both on screen and behind the camera. The work includes interviews with several directors, a bibliography, a filmography, and an index of names, film titles, and topics.

On Canadian Cinema

791.4365809714 P755c (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Poirier, Christian. Le cinéma québécois: à la recherche d’une identité? Sainte-Foy (Québec) Canada: Presses de l’Université du Québec, 2004. 2 v.

Volume 1, "L'imaginaire filmique," presents an analysis of the images of society portrayed in Québécois films from 1900 to 2000 and of what these images imply about individual and collective identities in Quebec. Volume 2, "Les politiques cinématographiques," discusses the involvement of Québécois and Canadian government in the film industry and the main individuals and organizations involved in influencing Québécois cinema. Each volume includes bibliographical references.

791.430971 L467f (English Library)
Leach, Jim. Film in Canada. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. 196 p. with illustrations.

Treating both French- and English-language films, this work discusses trends and developments in Canadian filmmaking since the 1960s. Includes an extensive bibliography, a filmography of movies discussed throughout the work, and an index of proper names and topics.

791.430971 M491o (English Library)
Melnyk, George. One hundred years of Canadian cinema. Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, c2004. x, 361 p. with illustrations.

791.430971 M749w (English Library)
Monk, Katherine. Weird sex & snowshoes: and other Canadian film phenomena. Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2001. 357 p. with illustrations.

This history of Canadian film includes information on Canadian directors and producers as well as reviews of 100 Canadian movies, a bibliography, and an index.

791.4309714 M355q (Main Stacks) -- Marshall, Bill. Quebec National Cinema. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001. 371 p.

This discussion of French-language films from Quebec is organized into the following chapters: "Producing and Envisioning the Nation," "Foudational Fictions," "The Cinema of Modernization," "Quebec/France," "Sex and the Nation," "Auteurism after 1970," "Popular Cinema," "Women's Cinema," "The Indigenous Other," "The Immigrant Other," and "Modernity and Postmodernity." Includes a bibliography and an index of people, film titles, and topics.

791.43653 W357r (English Library)
Waugh, Thomas. The romance of transgression in Canada: queering sexualities, nations, cinemas. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, c2006. xxiii, 599 p. with illustrations.

791.436 L835s (English Library)
Loiselle, André. Stage-bound: feature film adaptations of Canadian and Québécois drama. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003. 260 p.

791.430971 C16 (English Library)
Walz, Eugene P. Canada’s best features: critical essays on 15 Canadian films. Cross/cultures 56. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2002. xxxv, 383 p. with illustrations.

791.4309714 Es73 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Donohue, Joseph I., Jr., ed. Essays on Quebec Cinema. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1991. 194 p.

The essays in this collection are divided into the following sections: "Overviews of Quebec Cinema," "Filmmakers on Film," "Essays on Themes/Directors," and "Perspectives on Individual Films." The volume also includes a brief biographical dictionary of Québécois directors, filmwriters, and producers; a selected bibliography; and an index of names of people, film titles, film festivals, and awards.

791.43626 J986I (Africana Ref.)
Jutras, Dominique avec la collaboration de Monique Larue-Lamy. Images d’ailleurs: films canadiens sur l’Afrique et le monde créole, 1947 à 1988. Montréal: Editions du Cidihca, c1991. xv, 471 p. with illustrations.

384.80971 C16C (Main Stacks)
Canadian cinema, a solid base: report of the film industry. [Ottawa]: Government of Canada, [1985]. 62, 56 p.

On Swiss Cinema

Q.791.4309494 D897h (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref.)
Dumont, Hervé. Histoire du cinéma suisse: films de fiction, 1896-1965. Lausanne: Cinémathèque suisse, c1987. 591 p. with illustrations.

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Social Aspects of French/Francophone Cinema

(not yet catalogued--coming soon to Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Brassart, Alain. L'homosexualité dans le cinéma français. Paris: Nouveau monde, 2007.

840.9 W8423 Special Issue 2006 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Montfort, Catherine R. and Michèle Bissière, guest eds. Women in French Studies: French/Francophone Culture and Literature Through Film. Los Angeles, CA: Women in French, 2006. 395 p.

This special issue of the annual periodical Women in French Studies includes discussions of cinematic representations of French, Canadian, North African, and Subsaharan African culture and literature. Some of the women directors whose work is treated here include Coline Serreau, Agnès Varda, Léa Pool, and Claire Denis. Other films with female leads discussed include Chacun cherche son chat and Princesse Tam-Tam. A few of the literary works and film adaptations studied are Alexandre Dumas' La Reine Margot, Andrée Chedid's Le Sixième Jour, and Jacques Savoie's Les Portes Tournantes.

791.430944 T192r2005 (English Library)
Tarr, Carrie. Reframing difference: beur and banlieue filmmaking in France. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2005. viii, 230 p. with illustrations.

A study of questions of ethnicity and identity in beur cinema (works by and about French immigrants of Maghrebi descent) and banlieue cinema (independently released films set in the working-class neighborhoods on the outskirts of large French cities), this book includes discussions of such films as Le Thé au harem d'Archimède, Cheb, Mathieu Kassovitz's Métisse and La Haine, Les Histoires d'amour finissent mal en général, Souviens-toi de moi, Sous les pieds des femms, Vivre au paradis, L'Honneur de ma famille, Marie-Line, Chaos, Jeunesse dorée, Le Thé à la menthe, and La Fille de Keltoum. There are a filmography, a bibliography, and an index of film titles and proper names at the end of the book.

791.430944 G219s (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Gaston-Mathé, Catherine. La société française au miroir de son cinéma: de la débacle à la décolonisation. Collection "Septième art" Paris: Cerf, 1996. 366 p.

This work discusses film representations of French history and society in two parts: Part One, "Un cinéma de l'oubli," argues that French cinema through the 1950s tended to favor myth over realism, particularly in its representations of war; Part Two, "La mémoire retrouvée," treats the re-evaluation of French history (especially in terms of war, colonization, and decolonization) in more recent French films. Includes a bibliography and an index of films cited.

790 M337c (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Marie, Laurent. Le cinéma est à nous: Le PCF et le cinéma français de la Libération à nos jours. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2005. 363 p.

A detailed study of the relationship between the French Communist Party (Parti communiste français--PCF) and French cinema from 1944 to the present, this work also includes an extensive bibliography, a filmography that refers back to discussions of specific films within the text, and an index of individuals cited throughout.

Q.302.23430944 Si58c (Main Stacks)
Simsi, Simon. Ciné-passions: 7e art et industrie de 1945 à 2000. Paris: Dixit; Paris: Centre national de la cinématographie (CNC), 2000.

791.430944 B144c (Main Stacks)
Baecque, Antoine de. La cinéphilie: invention d’un regard, histoire d’une culture, 1944-1968. Histoire de la pensée. [Paris]: Fayard, c2003. 404 p.

This work explores the phenomenon of "cinéphilie" in its Golden Age, when several individuals destined to become great film critics, filmmakers, writers and journalists fell in love with the cinema (André Bazin, Eric Rohmer, Henri Langlois, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, Serge Daney...) The book discusses the influences of surrealism, existentialism, literature, structuralism, and the cultural debates of the 1950s and 1960s on the "cinéphiles" of the era. Includes indexes of proper names, films, and "la vie cinéphile" (film reviews, associations, important places, etc.)

791.43655 C114e (Main Stacks)
Cadé, Michel. L'Ecran bleu: la représentation des ouvriers dans le cinéma français. Collection Etudes. [Perpignan]: Presses universitaires de Perpignan, 2000. 271 p. with illustrations.

791.43658 G834l (Main Stacks)
Greene, Naomi. Landscapes of loss: the national past in postwar French cinema. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, c1999. 234 p.

791.430944 AN25M (English and Undergraduate Libraries)
Andrew, James Dudley. Mists of regret: culture and sensibility in classic French film. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, c1995. xv, 409 p. with illustrations.

791.43750944 (Undergraduate Library)
Buss, Robin. The French through their films. New York: Ungar, 1988. 165 p. with illustrations. Filmography: p. 91-156.

906 PA (Main Satcks)
Gauthier, Christophe. La passion du cinéma: cinéphiles, ciné-clubs et salles spécialisées à Paris de 1920 à 1929. Mémoires et documents de l'Ecole des chartes, 56. Paris: Association française de recherche sur l'histoire du cinéma: Ecole des Chartes, c1999. ii, 392 p. with illustrations.

302.23430944 B854C (Communications and Main Stacks)
Buchsbaum, Jonathan. Cinéma engagé: film in the popular front. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, c1988. xiv, 308 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 H262M (Communications and Undergraduate Libraries)
Harvey, Sylvia. May '68 and film culture. London: British Film Institute, 1980. 167 p.

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Influence of French Cinema

791.43750944 M456e (English Library)
Mazdon, Lucy. Encore Hollywood: remaking French cinema London: British Film Institute, 2000. 169 p. with illustrations.

791.43 T769alf2 (Main Stacks)
Alfonsi, Laurence. L'aventure américaine de l’œuvre de François Truffaut: de la sociologie du cinéma. Collection Cinéma et société. Paris: Harmattan, c2000. 372 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 M369n (Main Stacks)
Mary, Philippe. La nouvelle vague et le cinéma d'auteur: Socio-analyse d'une révolution artistique. Collection Liber. Paris: Seuil, c2006. 269 p.

791.430944 C493 (Main Stacks)
Le Cinéma français muet dans le monde, influences réciproques: symposium de la F.I.A.F., Paris, 1988. Series: Collection "Les Cahiers de la cinéathèque." [Toulouse]: Cinémathèque de Toulouse; [Perpignan]: Institut Jean Vigo, c1989. 285 p. with illustrations.

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Literature and Cinema

Q. 791.436 T432e2005 (Undergraduate Library Ref.)
Tibbetts, John C. and James M. Welsh. The encyclopedia of novels into film. 2nd ed. The facts on file film reference library. New York: Facts on File, c2005. xxii, 586 p. with illustrations.

016.79143 R733F (English Library)
Ross, Harris. Film as literature, literature as film: an introduction to and bibliography of film’s relationship to literature. Bibliographies and indexes in world literature, no. 10. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987. ix, 346 p.

016.79143 W444L (English Ref., Main Ref., and Oak Street)
Welsh, Jeffrey Egan. Literature and film: an annotated bibliography, 1909-1977. Garland reference library of the humanities; v. 241. New York: Garland, 1981. xi, 315 p.

016.79143 W444L1978-1988 (English Ref. and Undergraduate Ref.)
Welch, Jeffrey Egan. Literature and film: an annotated bibliography, 1978-1988. Garland reference library of the humanities; vol. 1114. New York : Garland Pub., 1993. ix, 341 p.

791.430922 M528f (Undergraduate Library)
Michalczyk, John J. The French literary filmmakers. Philadelphia: Art Alliance Press; London: Associated University Presses, c1980. xiii, 187 p. with illustrations.

Michalczyk asserts that the relationship between French literature and cinema enjoyed a Golden Age in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when several brilliant authors worked on significant films. This book includes chapters on the influence of the following writers on the cinema of the time: Jean Cocteau, Sacha Guitry, Marcel Pagnol, Jean Giono, André Malraux, Alain Robbe-Grillet, and Marguerite Duras. At the end of the volume are filmographies of each of these individuals, a bibliography, and an index of proper names, film titles, and topics.

791.43 G234D (Main Stacks) -- Gaudréault, André. Du littéraire au filmique: système du récit. Paris: Méridiens Klincksieck, 1988. xiii, 200 p. with illustrations.

906 PA v.68 (Main Stacks)
Carou, Alain. Le cinéma français et les écrivains: histoire d'une rencontre, 1906-1914. Mémoires et documents de l'Ecole des chartes, 68. Paris: Ecole nationale des chartes: Association française de recherche sur l'histoire du cinéma, 2002. 364 p. with black-and-white and color illustrations.

791.43 B755p (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Provoyeur, Jean-Louis. Le cinéma de Robert Bresson: de l'effet de réel à l'effet de sublime. Champs visuels. Paris: Harmattan, c2003. 367 p.

A discussion of how Bresson's cinema distinguishes itself from the literature that inspired it, this work explains the differences between telling a story (récit) and showing it (montage). Includes a filmography of Bresson's works and a bibliography of interviews with Bresson, books and articles about him, and more general works about literature and cinema.

791.4308 C67A:E (Oak Street Facility)
Virmaux, Alain et Odette, eds. Colette at the movies: criticism and screenplays. New York: Ungar, c1980. vii, 213 p. with illustrations.

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Film Theory

General Film Theory

791.43 M39f2004 (English Library)
Braudy, Leo and Marshall Cohen, eds. Film theory and criticism: introductory readings. New York : Oxford University Press, 2004. 937 p. with illustrations.

791.4301 F487 (English Library)
Stam, Robert and Toby Miller, eds. Film and theory: an anthology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2000. xviii, 862 p. with illustrations.

791.4301 C738 (English Library)
Miller, Toby and Robert Stam, eds. A companion to film theory. Blackwell companions in cultural studies; 1. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 1999. vi, 428 p. with illustrations.

791.4301 C869 (English Library Ref.)
Pearson, Roberta E. and Philip Simpson, eds. Critical dictionary of film and television theory. London; New York: Routledge, 2001. xiii, 498 p.

791.43 M8692 (Communications, English, and Undergraduate Libraries; English Reserves)
Nichols, Bill, ed. Movies and methods: an anthology. Berkeley : University of California Press, c1976-c1985. 2 vols, illustrated.

791.4308 T14F1970 (Undergraduate Library)
Talbot, Daniel, ed. Film: an anthology. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1970, c1959. 404 p.

French Film Theory and Theorists

791.430150944 AB35F (English Library; Temporarily Shelved at Undergrad Reserves)
Abel, Richard. French film theory and criticism: a history/anthology, 1907-1939. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, c1988. 2 vols. xxv, 452 p.

791.4301 Ai93e (English Library)
Aitken, Ian. European film theory and cinema: a critical introduction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c2001. 275 p.

791.43019 M298e (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Malraux, André. Esquisse d'une psychologie du cinéma. Paris: Nouveau monde éditions, 2003. 77 p. with illustrations.

This reprint of Malraux's analysis of cinema as myth and of its relation to other arts (theatre, literature, and painting) is preceded by a new introduction by Jean-Claude Larrat, Malraux scholar and professor at the Université de Caen.

791.43 B34q2002 (Main Stacks)
Bazin, André. Qu’est-ce que le cinéma? 13th edition. 7e art. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 2002. 372 p. with illustrations and portraits.

791.43 B34W (Communications Library and Undergraduate Library)
Bazin, André. What is cinema? Essays selected and translated by Hugh Gray. Berkeley, University of California Press [1967-71] 2 vols.

791.4375 B34b (English Library)
Bazin, André. Bazin at work: major essays & reviews from the forties & fifties. New York: Routledge, 1997. xvi, 252 p. with illustrations.

791.43 H63be (English Library)
Bellour, Raymond. Analysis of film. Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, c2000. 303 p. with illustrations.

700.9 B636r (Art & Architecture Library)
Boissier, Jean-Louis. La relation comme forme: l’interactivité en art. Genève: Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, 2004. 311 p. with illustrations + 1 CD-ROM.

791.43 B755N (Oak Street Facility)
Bresson, Robert. Notes sur le cinématographe. [Paris]: Gallimard, 1975. 139 p.

791.43 D381C (Main Stacks)
Delluc, Louis. Le cinéma et les cinéastes. Ecrits cinématographiques. [Paris]: Cinémathèque française, [1985]. 349 p. with illustrations.

791.4301 D378IM (Main Stacks)
Deleuze, Gilles. L’image-temps. Cinéma II. Paris : Editions de Minuit, c1985. 378 p.

791.4301 D378I (Main Stacks)
Deleuze, Gilles. L'image-mouvement. Cinéma I. Paris : Editions de Minuit, c1983. 298 p.

791.4308 EP8E (Main Stacks)
Epstein, Jean. Écrits sur le cinéma, 1921-1953: édition chronologique en deux volumes. Cinéma club. Paris: Seghers, 1974-1975. 2 vols. with illustrations.

791.43 F27F1963 (Undergraduate Library)
Faure, Elie. Fonction du cinéma, de la cinéplastique à son destin social. New edition. Bibliothèque Médiations. [Genève]: Éditions Gontheir, [1963]. 146 p.

791.430014 M697s:E (English Library)
Mitry, Jean. Semiotics and the analysis of film. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c2000. xi, 277 p. with illustrations. (Translation from the original French.)

791.4301 M697A (Main Stacks)
Mitry, Jean. The aesthetics and the psychology of the cinema. The Society for Cinema Studies Translation Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c1997. xv, 403 p. (Original French version, 1963 edition, at 791.43 M69E in the Main Stacks, as Aesthétique et psychologie du cinéma. Encyclopédie universitaire. Paris: Éditions universitaires, [1963- ] Vol 1, p. 419-424.)

791.43 M568e (Main Stacks)
Metz, Christian. Essais sur la signification au cinéma. Tomes I et II. Collection d'Esthétique. Paris: Klincksieck, c2003. 2 vols in 1, 244, 219 p. Originally published as two separate volumes in 1968 and 1972.

791.4301 M56S (Main Stacks)
Metz, Christian. Le Signifiant imaginaire: psychanalyse et cinéma. Paris: Union générale d’éditions, 1977. 370 p.

791.4301 M56L (Main Stacks)
Metz, Christian. Langage et cinéma. Paris: Librairie Larousse, [1971]. 223 p.

791.43 M825c:E (English Library)
Morin, Edgar. The cinema, or, The imaginary man. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2005. xxxix, 292 p.
Original French version (1958 edition) at 791.43 M83C1958 (Main Stacks)
Le cinéma; ou, L’homme imaginaire, essai d’anthropologie sociologique.Collection "Arguments" 6. [Paris] : Éditions de minuit, [1958, c1956]. 250 p. with illustrations.

791.43 R152f (Main Stacks)
Rancière, Jacques. La fable cinématographique. [Paris] : Seuil, c2001. 243 p. with illustrations.

305.8 R752c (Education Library)
Rouch, Jean. Ciné-ethnography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2003. viii, 400 p. with illustrations.

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Dissertations

Recent dissertations can be an excellent source for current research on French film and also for bibliographic references.  Dissertations are available through ProQuest Digital Dissertations, which can be accessed via Online Research Resources. You can then search for your topic through the ProQuest database.

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Directors, Filmographies, Plots and Themes

Directors
General Filmographies
Plots, themes, etc.

Directors

Directors Worldwide

Q. 791.4309 In82000 (English Library Ref. and Undergraduate Library Ref.)
Pendergast, Tom and Sara Pendergast. International dictionary of films and filmmakers. 4th ed. Detroit: St. James Press, c2000. 4 v.: illustrated.

Open Directory Project: Directors

This site offers links to biographies, filmographies, and other information about directors from France and other countries. Users can browse for directors' names by clicking on the first letter of the filmmakers' last names or perform searches for specific names.

French Directors

Wikipedia: French Film Directors

This page links to Wikipedia entries on 232 French film directors. Entries usually include biographical information, filmographies, bibliographies of works about these directors, and links to external websites about them.

791.43023303 R767d (Main Stacks)
Roux, Stéphane. Dictionnaire des réalisateurs français. Paris : Dualpha, c2002. 459 p.

The alphabetically-arranged entries on French directors (as well as on several Belgians and a few Americans who have made films in France) in this dictionary provide basic biographical information as well as filmographies.

791.430944 B85v (Main Stacks)
Buache, Freddy. Vingt-cinq ans de cinéma français: Parcours croisés 1979-2003. Lausanne: L'âge d'homme, 2005. 433 p. with illustrations.

Written as a "critic's journal" rather than organized as a dictionary, the entries in this book discuss late 20th-century directors in terms of the themes and styles of their films. Indexes of directors and of film titles at the end of the volume help users to find specific filmmakers and films of interest.

791.430944 N622 (Main Stacks)
Prédal, René, dir. 900 cinéastes français d’aujourd’hui: dictionnaire. Collection "Septième art", 85. [Paris]: Cerf : Télérama, c1988. 515 p.

This volume offers biographies, filmographies, critical analyses, and bibliographies for 900 French filmmakers, each of whom directed at least one feature-length film between 1970 and the dictionary's publication in 1988.

791.43... (English Library)
French Film Directors series.

Searching for the series title "French film directors" in the UIUC online catalog will lead you to the records of 15 books from this series, published between 1998 and 2004. The call number for these books starts with 791.43... and most of them are housed in the English Library.

791.430232092 L496c (Main Stacks)
Chantier, Pascal and Jean-Charles Lemeunier. Patrice, Leconte et les autres. Paris: Séguier, 2001. 573 p. with illustrations.

Chantal Akerman
The website of The European Graduate School of Switzerland provides a biography of Akerman, a bibliography of books and articles by and about her, a listing of her films, and citations of interviews conducted with her.

VIDREC 791.430233092 C363 (Undergraduate Media Collection)
Akerman, Chantal. Chantal Akerman par Chantal Akerman [videorecording]. [New York, NY]: First Run/Icarus Films, 1996.

Robert Bresson
This site from Masters of Cinema.org currently includes the texts of several interviews with Bresson and of articles about him; reviews of DVD releases of his work; several film posters and other graphics; listings of Bresson works available on DVD, video, and laserdisc; citations of several books about Bresson and his work; Bresson-related news (such as new books about Bresson or retrospectives of his films); and links to several online articles/essays about him.

791.43 B755p (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Provoyeur, Jean-Louis. Le cinéma de Robert Bresson: de l'effet de réel à l'effet de sublime. Champs visuels. Paris: Harmattan, c2003. 367 p.

A discussion of how Bresson's cinema distinguishes itself from the literature that inspired it, this work explains the differences between telling a story (récit) and showing it (montage). Includes a filmography of Bresson's works and a bibliography of interviews with Bresson, books and articles about him, and more general works about literature and cinema.

René Clair
A brief biography and filmography, with links to information about each film, from Films de France.com.

791.43 C543D (Main Stacks)
Dale, R.C. The films of René Clair. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, c1986. 2 vols with illustrations.

791.430233 R292 (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Herpe, Noel and Emmanuelle Toulet, dirs. René Clair ou le Cinéma à la lettre. Paris: Association Française de Recherche sur l'Histoire du Cinéma, 2000. 279 p. with illustrations.

These proceedings from the René Clair conference held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in November 1998 are organized into the following sections, which demonstrate Clair's versatility as a writer and director: "De l'écrit à l'écran," "Du muet au parlant," "De la France à l'Amérique," and "Du retour aux détours." The credentials of the contributors, all specialists in French cinema, are included at the end of the volume.

Jean Cocteau
Films de France.com provides a biography and filmography of Cocteau.

845C64 BM6692003 (Main Stacks)
Miomandre, Philippe de. Moi, Jean Cocteau: biographie. Paris : AKR, 2003. 234 p. with illustrations.

This biography of Cocteau explores his work as a novelist, playwright, filmmaker, and poet in the context of other artists of his time. Includes many beautiful stills from Cocteau's films, along with other illustrations. The list of Cocteau's works at the end of the volume includes a listing of his films as well.

Claire Denis
The European Graduate School of Switzerland offers a biography and bibliography, as well as photos, a video of one of Denis' lectures for the EGS and a few Denis quotes.

Jacques Doillon
This web page from the Centre National de Cinématographie and Lux provides a biography and filmography of Doillon.

Germaine Dulac
The New York Times and the All Movie Guide offer biographical information and Dulac's filmography.

791.43082 F649t1996 (English Library)
Flitterman-Lewis, Sandy. To desire differently: feminism and the French cinema. Expanded ed. New York: Columbia University Press, c1996. xii, 379 p. with illustrations.

Includes three main sections on Dulac, Marie Epstein, and Agnès Varda.

Julien Duvivier
A biography and filmography from Films de France.com.

791.430944092 D957b (Main Stacks)
Bonnefille, Eric. Julien Duvivier: le mal aimant du cinéma français. Paris: Harmattan, c2002. 2 volumes with illustrations.

791.430944092 D957d (Main Stacks)
Desrichard, Yves. Julien Duvivier: cinquante ans de noirs destins. Courbevoie: Durante; Paris: BiFi, [2001]. 263 p. with illustrations.

Marie Epstein
The British Film Institute provides basic biographical information on writer/director Marie Epstein as well as her filmography (see link in left sidebar).

Marie Epstein's obituary
This obituary of Epstein, published in The London Independent in June 1995, discusses Epstein's life and the significance of her work.

791.43082 F649t1996 (English Library)
Flitterman-Lewis, Sandy. To desire differently: feminism and the French cinema. Expanded ed. New York: Columbia University Press, c1996. xii, 379 p. with illustrations.

Includes three main sections on Epstein, Germaine Dulac, and Agnès Varda.

Jean-Luc Godard
The British Film Institute offers a brief biography and selected filmography of Godard, access to writing on Godard, a list of Godard films available for rent from the Institute, and links to several other websites about Godard.

"Cinema=Jean-Luc Godard=Cinema"
This extensive website includes a filmography of Godard's work with links to reviews and websites about specific films; academic and popular essays; numerous interviews with Godard and with others who were influenced by him; and information on some of Godard's colleagues.

VIDREC 791.43653 J569 (Undergraduate Media Collection)
Godard, Jean-Luc. JLG/JLG. [videorecording] Sykesville, Md. : Cinema Parallel [distributor], c1996. 1 videocassette (60 min.)

791.43 G54fo (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Temple, Michael, James S. Williams, and Michael Witt. For Ever Godard. London: Black Dog Publishing Ltd., 2004. 461 p. with illustrations.

Inspired by an international conference called "For Ever Godard," held at the Tate Modern in London in June 2001, this collection of essays is divided into the following sections: "Work and Works," "Form and Figure," "Sound and Music," and "History and Memory." Includes a selective bibliography and an index of names and film titles.

791.430233 G54m (English Library)
MacCabe, Colin. Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003. 432 p. with illustrations.

This biography of Godard begins in the first chapter with a history of the Monods (Godard's maternal family), continues with Godard's arrival in Paris and introduction to the world of cinema as a young man, then discusses New Wave cinema, the student revolution of 1968, and its aftermath, and concludes with a memoir of the author's frequent meetings with Godard during the 1980s and 1990s. There are a filmography (with definitions of the standard positions on a film crew); a select bibliography; and an index of film titles, proper names, and topics at the end of the volume.

791.430233 G54g (Main Stacks)
Sterritt, David, ed. Jean-Luc Godard: Interviews. Conversations with Filmmakers Series. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1998. 203 p. with illustrations.

This collection of interviews conducted by several critics, scholars, and journalists who met with Godard at different points in his career is intended to show the diversity of his work. Includes a chronology of Godard's life, a filmography, and an index of proper names, film titles, and topics.

791.43 G54JE (Undergraduate Library)

Godard, Jean-Luc. Godard on Godard; critical writings. New York: Viking Press, [1972]. 292 p. with illustrations. Translations of original French essays from La gazette du cinéma and Les cahiers du cinéma.

Nelly Kaplan
A brief biography and filmography of Kaplan, provided by The New York Times and All Movie Guide.

791.430233 K141n (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Calle-Gruber, Mireille and Pascale Risterucci, eds. Nelly Kaplan: le verbe et la lumière. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2004. 215 p. with illustrations.

This collection of texts about director, screenwriter, author, and poet Nelly Kaplan include an essay by Kaplan herself, a letter to Kaplan from André Breton (written in 1957), and several essays by others familiar with Kaplan's work. Includes a bibliography and a filmography as well as an index of proper names.

Mathieu Kassovitz
Kassovitz's personal, French/English website includes filmographies of the works he has directed and acted in, information on his private production company (composed of himself and his father), news, and a blog.

The Lumière Brothers (les frères Lumière)
This web page serves as a basic introduction to the life and work of brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière.

778.53092244 R513F (Main Stacks)
Rittaud-Hutinet, Jacques. Les frères Lumière: l'invention du cinéma. [Paris]: Flammarion, c1995. 390 p.

778.530922 C374A (Main Stacks)
Chardère, Bernard. Au pays des Lumière. Coédition Institut Lumière / Actes sud. Lyon: Institut Lumière; [Arles]: Actes Sud, 1995. 101 p. with black-and-white and color illustrations.

DVD 791.43 L971k (Undergraduate Media Collection)
The Lumière Brothers' first films [videorecording]. New York: Kino on Video; [Chatsworth, CA: Image Entertainment [distributor], c1998.

This 61-minute DVD offers a "look at the birth of the motion picture through 85 of the more than 1,500 films made by the Lumière Brothers between 1895 and 1897. These films include views of Moscow, New York, Paris, Saigon, and Jerusalem; vignettes of life in France; and comedy shorts." Commentary in English and French.

Louis Malle
This official website on Malle, produced by Nouvelles Editions de Films, provides a biography, annotated filmography with film posters, citations of books by and about Malle, news, and soundtracks and DVDs available for purchase from NEF.

791.43 M296f (English Library)
Frey, Hugo. Louis Malle. French Film Directors Series. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2004. 163 p.

From the French Film Directors Series, this book discusses the films of Louis Malle, one of the most prolific directors in post-war international cinema. Malle (1932-95) worked in French independent production as well as in the U.S. and directed fictional films and documentaries. Frey discusses Malle's experience as a filmmaker during the turbulent times of the New Wave, May '68, and the 1970s, Malle's work in the U.S. and his return to France, his aesthetic vision, his politics, his views of history, and the "primal scenes" of his films. Includes a filmography, a select bibliography, and an index of film titles, proper names, and topics.

791.430233092 M295b (Main Stacks)
Billard, Pierre. Louis Malle: Le rebelle solitaire. [Paris?]: Plon, c2003. 580 p. with illustrations.

This detailed biography presents Malle as a precursor of the New Wave who has never received his due as such. Includes Malle's family tree, a bibliography, filmography, and indexes of proper names and film titles.

Chris Marker
A biography, filmography, bibliography, and list of web resources, provided by Senses of Cinema.com.

Georges Méliès
A basic biography of this early filmmaker, with a link to his filmography.

778.530924 M484M (Main Stacks)
Malthête-Méliès, Madeleine, dir. Méliès et la naissance du spectacle cinématographique. Colloque de Cerisy. Paris : Klincksieck, 1984. 239 p. with illustrations.

791.43 M48J (Main Stacks)
Jenn, Pierre. Georges Méliès cinéaste: le montage cinématographique chez Georges Méliès. Collection Ça/Cinema. Paris: Editions Albatros, c1984. 172 p. with illustrations.

Jean Renoir
Senses of Cinema.com offers a fairly detailed biography and filmography of Renoir as well as a select bibliography of works by and about this renowned director.

The Online Jean Renoir Research Centre
This site is intended to bring together a substantial collection of information on Renoir. It includes a listing of his films with links to other resources on several of them, chronologies of his work in theatre and of his publications, a bibliography of books, studies, and articles on Renoir (several of the articles are available here in full text), links to websites of interest, a chronology of retrospectives of Renoir's work, a listing of Renoir films available on DVD, and news of upcoming DVD releases and relevant new publications.

791.43 R295ph (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Philippe, Claude-Jean. Jean Renoir: Une vie en oeuvres. Paris Grasset, c2005. 460 p.

This biography is based on the director's writings (interviews, autobiography, correspondance, and the book he wrote about his father) and his films; the author looks for common threads in Renoir's work and reveals some of the secrets behind it, recounting several anecdotes about the making of Renoir's films. Includes a chronology at the end of the volume.

791.43 R295o (English Library and Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
O'Shaughnessy, Martin. Jean Renoir. French Film Directors. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2000. 251 p.

This offering from the French Film Directors Series treats one of the most influential directors in the history of French cinema, from his work on silent and early sound films, through the Popular Front years and Renoir américain to his later films. Includes a detailed filmography; a select bibliography; and an index of names, film titles, and topics.

791.43 R295R1 (Main Stacks)
Renoir, Jean. Lettres d'Amérique. Paris: Presses de la Renaissance, c1984. 358 p.

791.43 R295R (Main Stacks and Oak Street)
Renoir, Jean. Ma vie et mes films. [Paris:] Flammarion, [1974]. 262 p. with illustrations.

791.43 R295S (English and Undergraduate Libraries)
Sesonske, Alexander. Jean Renoir, the French films, 1924-1939. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980. xii, 463 p. with illustrations.

791.43 R295B (Main Stacks and Undergraduate Library)
Bazin, André. Jean Renoir. Paris: Editions Champ libre, 1971. 285 p.

791.43 R295F (Main Stacks)
Faulkner, Christopher. The social cinema of Jean Renoir. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986. x, 210 p.

016.79143 R29F (Main Stacks)
Faulkner, Christopher. Jean Renoir, a guide to references and resources. Boston: G. K. Hall, c1979. xvi, 356 p.

Jacques Rivette
"The goal of this site is to disseminate materials on Rivette's films so both the serious scholar and the simply curious have access to items that are out of print, rare, or unavailable." The site includes a detailed filmography, access to interviews with Rivette and to essays and criticism, and a bibliography of writings by Rivette (a bibliography of works about him is said to be in the works).

791.43 R525d (Main Stacks)
Deschamps, Hélène. Jacques Rivette: théâtre, amour, cinéma. L'art en bref. Paris: Harmattan, 2001. 117 p.

Eric Rohmer
AllMovie.com provides a biography and filmography of Rohmer, plus a list of awards his movies have won.

791.43 R636c (Main Stacks)
Crisp, C.G. Eric Rohmer: Realist and Moralist. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988.

A study of Rohmer's work up to the late 1980s, this book includes discussions of Rohmer's critical writings, the origins of his "contes moraux" ("moral tales"), the Comedies and Proverbs series, and the films La Collectionneuse, Ma Nuit chez Maud, Le Genou de Claire, L'Amour l'après-midi, La Marquise d'O..., Perceval, Le Beau Mariage, Pauline à la plage, and Nuits de la pleine lune. At the back of the volume are a bibliography of writings by and about Rohmer and his films, a detailed filmography, and an index of proper names, film titles, and topics.

Jean Rouch
This web page from Documentary Educational Resources offers a biography, filmography, and bibliography, as well as links to additional resources on Rouch.

305.8 R752c (Education Library)
Rouch, Jean. Ciné-ethnography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2003. viii, 400 p. with illustrations.

Rouch's essays and interviews translated from French to English.

VIDREC 305.80092 R752 (Undergraduate Media Collection)
Diawara, Manthia. Rouch in reverse [videorecording]. San Francisco, CA: California Newsreel, c1995. 1 videocassette (51 min.)

French ethnologist/filmmaker, Jean Rouch discusses his work with Manthia Diawara including clips from his documentaries and films. In English and French with English subtitles.

Bertrand Tavernier
A biography, filmography, and bibliography of works by and about Tavernier from Senses of Cinema.com.

791.43 T198r (Main Stacks)
Raspiengeas, Jean-Claude. Bertrand Tavernier. [Paris]: Flammarion, c2001. 545 p.

Based on Tavernier's archives and correspondance, to which the director granted the author open access, and interviews with about 100 actors, filmmakers, and friends of Tavernier conducted over a three-year period, this biography traces Tavernier's life and work from his childhood fascination with the cinema in the 1940s and 1950s to his founding of the cine-club "Nickel-Odéon" in the 1960s to his filmmaking in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

François Truffaut

This French-language website offers a chronology of Truffaut's life and work, a filmography, a bibliography of works by and about Truffaut, images of several posters of Truffaut films, commentary on music used in Truffaut's films, music clips, and more.

791.43 T76di (Main Stacks)
Baecque, Antoine de and Arnaud Guigue, dirs. Le dictionnaire Truffaut [Paris]: Martinière, c2004. 431 p. with illustrations.

Q.791.43 T768Yl (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Libary--oversized)
Le Berre, Carole. Truffaut au travail. Paris: Cahiers du cinema, 2004. 319 p. with black-and-white and color photographs and film stills.

Following an introduction to Truffaut's work as a whole, this volume offers essays on 23 of his films with numerous photographs and film stills. Also includes a biography of Truffaut, a filmography of his works, and a bibliography of books by and about Truffaut.

791.43092 T76g (Main Stacks)
Guigue, Arnaud. François Truffaut: la culture et la vie. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2002. 269 p.

An analysis of Truffaut's films that demonstrates Truffaut's fascination both with cultural masterpieces of the past and with the culture of contemporary daily life, this work discusses how Truffaut portrays the influence of the dead on the living, the function of education in the acquisition of culture, writing as production of culture, the influence of culture on personality, translation as a form of culture, and culture as a defense against fatalism and determinism. Includes a filmography as well as a bibliography of works by and about Truffaut.

791.43 T76ba2001 (Main Stacks) -- Baecque, Antoine de and Serge Toubiana. François Truffaut. Revised edition. Paris: Gallimard, 2001. 876 p. with illustrations.

LASERDISC 791.43 T768f (Undergraduate Media Collection)
Kurcfeld, Michael, producer. François Truffaut [videorecording]: 25 years, 25 films. [Santa Monica, CA]: Voyager Co., c1993.

Agnès Varda
"Le site filmographique Agnès Varda" offers biographical information as well as the credits of Varda's work in feature films, short films, and television.

791.43082 F649t1996 (English Library)
Flitterman-Lewis, Sandy. To desire differently: feminism and the French cinema. Expanded ed. New York: Columbia University Press, c1996. xii, 379 p. with illustrations.

Includes three main sections on Varda, Germaine Dulac, and Marie Epstein.

VIDREC 791.43023 Ag62 (Undergraduate Media Collection)
Brockway, Merrill, dir. Agnès Varda and Susan Sontag. Lions and cannibals [videorecording]. Kent, CT : Creative Arts Television, c1977. 1 videocassette (27 min.)

"This conversation explores the cinema approaches and thinking of film directors Agnes Varda and Susan Sontag, who were among the small group of artists represented in the prestigious seventh annual New York Film Festival (1969). Here they discuss their ideas and their films with Jack Kroll, senior editor at Newsweek magazine. Excerpts from both their films illustrate the conversation"--Container label.

Jean Vigo
A biography, filmography, bibliography, and list of web resources on Vigo from Senses of Cinema.com.

791.43 V68g1998 (English Library)
Gomes, P. E. Sailes. Jean Vigo. Revised edition. London: Faber and Faber, 1998. 266 p. with illustrations and portraits. (English translation of the 1972 French-language work.)

791.43 V68J (Main Stacks)
Lherminier, Pierre. Jean Vigo, ouvre de cinéma: films, scénarios, projets de films, textes sur le cinéma. Paris: Cinémathèque française: Lherminier, c1985. 494 p. with illustrations.

North African (Maghrebi) Directors

Yamina Bachir-Chouikh
Biosstars.com offers a mini-biography and filmography of this Algerian director.

Férid Boughedir
The Contemporary Africa Database provides a filmography of Tunisian director Boughedir and a link to an interview with him from africultures.

Mehdi Charef
AlloCine's web page on Charef offers a photo, biography, and filmography of Charef with links to entries on his films.

791 V568m (Main Stacks)
Venturini, Fabrice. Mehdi Charef: conscience esthétique de la génération beur. Biarritz: Séguier, 2005. 115 p. with illustrations.

Ziad Doueiri
IMDb's listing of this young Lebanese director's awards, plus a filmography with links to information about films on which he has worked as a cameraman, director, and/or writer.

Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina
Africiné.org provides a brief biography and filmography of this Algerian director and screenwriter.

Moknèche Nadir
Africultures.com supplies a biography of Algerian director Nadir and information on his films to date.

Moufida Tlatli
A brief biography of Tlatli, with a listing of awards she has won, from the Cannes Film Festival website.

Sub-Saharan and West African Directors

016.7914375 SCH55S (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref. and Africana Ref.)
Schmidt, Nancy J. Sub-Saharan African films and filmmakers, 1987-1992: an annotated bibliography. London; New Jersey: Hans Zell Publishers, 1994. ix, 468 p.

791.430230922 P47T (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Ref., English Library, and Undergraduate Library)
Pfaff, Françoise. Twenty-five Black African filmmakers: a critical study, with filmography and bio-bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988. xii, 332 p. with illustrations and portraits.

Moussa Sene Absa
A brief biography and filmography of this Senegalese director from Africultures.com.

Jean-Pierre Bekolo
A biography from IMDb, with links to entries on Bekolo's films.

Djibril Diop Mambéty
The Djibril Diop Mambéty Memorial website includes a biography, an interview with Mambéty, a filmography, and film clips.

790 D623n (Main Stacks)
Niang, Sada. Djibril Diop Mambéty: un cinéaste à contre-courant. Collection Images plurielles. Paris: L'Harmattan, c2002. 239 p.

Mweze Ngangura
The CongOnline biography of Congolese director Ngangura, who made La vie est belle with Belgian director Benoît Lamy.

Ousmane Sembène
A biography, bibliography, and filmography provided by Emory University.

791.43 Ou8g (Mod. Lang. & Ling.)--Gadjigo, Samba, Ralph H. Faulkingham, Thomas Cassirer, and Reinhard Sander. Ousmane Sembène: Dialogues with Critics and Writers. Amherst: Univ. of Massachussetts Press, 1993. 123 p. with illustrations.

Includes critical perspectives on Sembène's prose fiction and films, a writers' forum on writing and language, Sembène's remarks after the showing of his film Camp de Thiaroye, and an interview with Sembène by Sada Niang. There are bibliographies of works by and about Sembène and a filmography at the end of the volume.

Canadian Directors

Denys Arcand
This web page from The Canadian Encyclopedia offers a biography of Arcand with links to a few other sites on this celebrated director.

791.430233 AR21L (English Library)
Loiselle, André and Brian McIlroy. Auteur/provocateur: the films of Denys Arcand. Contributions to the study of popular culture, no. 45. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1995. vii, 195 p. with illustrations.

Michel Brault
NanoukFilms.com offers a biography and a filmography of Brault here.

François Girard
This entry from the online Film Reference Library includes a biography and filmography of Girard.

Claude Jutra
This web page from The Film Reference Library provides a biography of Jutra and a filmography of his works.

791.430232 J987l (Main Stacks and Undergraduate Library)
Leach, Jim. Claude Jutra: filmmaker. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1999. xii, 306 p. with portraits.

Jean-Claude Lauzon
This web page from The Film Reference Library offers a biography and a filmography of Lauzon.

Robert Lepage
This web page from the CBC Archives includes basic biographical information, radio and TV clips about Lepage, and links to a few other websites about him.

791.430233092 L55d (English Library)
Dundjerovic, Aleksandar. The cinema of Robert Lepage: the poetics of memory. London; New York: Wallflower, 2003. ix, 181 p. with illustrations.

Léa Pool
The Film Reference Library provides a biography and filmography of Léa Pool here.

Caribbean Directors

Euzhan Palcy
The official website for Martinique-born director Euzhan Palcy includes her biography, a filmography, and a photo gallery.

Raoul Peck
This web page offers a biography of Haitian director Raoul Peck, including the titles of his films to date and the names of the multiple awards he won for Lumumba.

Legendary Immigrant Directors (Who Have Worked in France)

Luis Buñuel
Senses of Cinema.com offers a biography, filmography, bibliography, and list of additional web resources on Spanish-born director Buñuel.

791.43 B88E (English Library)
Edwards, Gwynne. The discreet art of Luis Buñuel: a reading of his films. London; Boston: Marion Boyars, 1982. 288 p. with illustrations.

791.4309091 W673F (Mod. Lang. & Ling. Library)
Williams, Linda. Figures of desire: a theory and analysis of surrealist film. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, c1981. xv, 229 p. with illustrations.

Michael Haneke
A biography, filmography, bibliography, and list of additional web resources on Austrian-born Haneke, provided by Senses of Cinema.com.

Dmitri Kirsanov
A brief biography and filmography of Estonian-born director Kirsanov (a.k.a. Kirsanoff), with links to information on specific films, from IMDb.

Man Ray
Film Reference.com provides biographical information, a filmography, and a bibliography of American-born photographer and director Man Ray.

G.W. Pabst
This biography of Bohemian-born stage- and screen-director Pabst links to a complete filmography.

Atwell, Lee. G. W. Pabst. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1977. 184 p. with illustrations.

Rau´l Ruiz
Film Reference.com offers biographical information, a filmography, and a bibliography of Chilean-born director Ruiz here.

LABO.10/2004.37 (Main Stacks Mezzanine--Request Only) -- Buci-Glucksmann, Christine ... [et al.] Conversaciones con Rau´l Ruiz. Santiago, Chile: Universidad Diego Portales, 2003. 179 p.

Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet
Biographical information, a filmography, and a bibliography of French-German Straub and his French spouse Huillet. The couple directed films together in France, Germany, and Italy.

791.430230922 B651a (Main Stacks)
Böser, Ursula. The art of seeing, the art of listening: the politics of representation in the work of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet. Frankfurt am Main New York: P. Lang, 2005. 241 p. with illustrations.

Q.791.43 ST822F (Main Stacks)
Les Films de Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet: Amerika/Rapports de classes/Klassenverhältnisse d'après Franz Kafka, Octobre 1984. Paris: NEF Diffusion; Toulouse: Ombres, [1984]. 60 p. with illustrations.

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General Filmographies

016.7914375 B484F (Undergraduate Library)
Biggs, Melissa E. French films, 1945-1993: a critical filmography of the 400 most important releases. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, c1996. vii, 357 p. with illustrations.

791.43750944 (Undergraduate Library)
Buss, Robin. The French through their films. New York: Ungar, 1988. 165 p. with illustrations. Filmography: p. 91-156.

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Plots, themes, characters, etc.

791.4372... (English Library)
French Film Guides series.

A search for the series title "French Film Guides Series" will lead you to the catalog records of six different volumes, each focused on a particular film (Casque d'or, Cléo de 5 à 7, Le Corbeau, Alphaville, Diaboliques, and La Reine Margot). These books were published from 2005 to 2007, start with the call number 791.4372... , and are housed in the English Library.

Q.791.4375 P217G (English and Undergraduate Libraries)
Paris, James Reid. The great French films. 1st ed. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, c1983. 277 p. with illustrations.

791.430944 F8442 (English Library)
Mazdon, Lucy, ed.  France on film: reflections on popular French cinema.  London: Wallflower, 2001.  viii, 180 p.

This work includes essays on Jean de Florette, La Femme Nikita, Les Visiteurs, Karim Dridi's Bye-bye, Gazon maudit, Y aura-t-il de la neige à Noel?, Chacun cherche son chat, Un héros très discret, Ma vie en rose, Marius et Jeannette, and Catherine Breillat's Romance.  A bibliography and an index are also provided.

791.4303 D561 (Main Stacks) -- Horvilleur, Gilles, dir. Dictionnaire des personnages du cinéma. Paris: Bordas, 1988. 557 p. with illustrations.

Alphabetically-arranged entries on characters and stereotypical roles from the world of film, beginning with "abbé (voir prêtre)," "Abbott et Costello," "académicien," and "accusé," and ending with "zoophile," "Zorba," "Zorro," and "Zoulou." Includes indexes of actors and films mentioned throughout the volume.

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Additional Websites

On International Cinema

International Movie Database
This large, popular site allows searching for information by film title, keywords, characters, actors, and more.

Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers
This website offers a detailed definition of "cinematography," an alphabetized index to information on internationally-known cinematographers, a list of books and DVDs on cinematography, and links to related sites of interest. It is searchable by name of cinematographer or keyword.

ArtsLynx International Film Resources
This directory provides links to websites related to the following aspects of cinema: acting and performance resources, business resources, design and technology resources, equipment and supplies, employment in film and video, history and research resources, magazines and journals, mega-sites, miscellaneous materials, organizations, schools, screen writing resources, sound and music resources, and film theory and criticism.

Cité Cinéma
This beautifully designed site offers a wealth of information on international cinema, including: a history of cinema; photos, brief biographies and filmographies of directors, actors, and composers; posters and synopses of films released from 1895 to the present; the terminology and basic techniques of cinematography; and news about current films.

CinéArtistes.com
This online encyclopedia of international cinema includes biographies and filmographies of 795 figures from the world of film: directors and lead and supporting actors, including individuals who may not have been very well-known and those who may have been largely forgotten. Includes e-mails from users of the site and links to other sites of interest.

Le Ciné-club de Caen
Includes complete filmographies of 264 renowned international directors and detailed analyses of nearly 400 films. Also provides a history of cinema that includes information on specific national cinemas (French, Japanese, American) and various cinematic movements, quizzes on images from movies, many links to other websites about film, and more.

Ciné-Studies
An online French-language cinema journal that serves as a forum where undergraduates and graduate students can publish papers about international film.

On French/European Cinema

"Film on the Web”—“European Cinema”—“French Cinema”
"Film on the Web" includes sections with links to general online resources on European Cinema and French Cinema. Brief annotations are given for most.

filmarchives online
This database provides access to the moving image collections of several European film archives. Currently, the films of five partner archives are searchable via this website, which is new as of June 2007. Parts of the collections of eleven additional archives will become accessible here in 2007, for a total of around 20,000 films.

French Film Stars
This site from the University of Sheffield French Department provides profiles of nearly 200 Francophone film stars, film descriptions, and a database of references of radio, TV, and press coverage of Francophone movie stars from 1949 to the present.

Films de France
This commercial site, which can be read in French or English, provides information on French films, actors, and directors. It also includes a bibliography; a short quiz; news on film, other entertainment, and French culture; and a DVD shop.

Cinema of France
This site includes information on the history of French cinema, film genres, selected film titles, critics and curators, actors, and directors.

Le Festival de Cannes
This site, which may be viewed in French or English, includes information on the May 2007 Cannes film festival as well as a history and chronology of the festival, archives of past winners from the 59 previous Cannes festivals, and more.

Commission Nationale du Film France
This French-English site is of interest to filmmakers as well as to film enthusiasts. Users can search for films shot in particular regions of France; filmmakers can look for French locales fitting criteria of their choice. Photos of many of these locales are included. Also includes a list of films currently in production throughout the country, a list of links useful to filmmakers, and a list of foreign films that were popular in France from 2000 through 2005.

On African Cinema

Africiné.org
"Le site de la Fédération africaine de la critique cinématographique" includes information on over 2,700 African films as well as on numerous directors, actors, producers, and distributors. Alphabetical indexes in each category as well as multiple search options make for easy browsing.

On Canadian Cinema

Northern Stars
This website bills itself as "the best database for information about Canadian actors, directors, and movies." It also includes information on composers and screenwriters, film reviews, news, trivia, and more.

The Film Reference Library (Toronto)
This website, hosted by the Toronto International Film Festival Group, provides access to the world's most extensive collection of English-language materials related to Canadian film. You can also search the Canadian Film Encyclopedia here.

Film Studies Subject Guides from other Universities.

Carleton College's Research Guide to Cinema and Media Studies
This user-friendly guide lists several sources for ready reference and for film reviews, in particular.

Harvard College Library's French and Francophone Literature Library and Internet Research Guide: Selected Film Sources
This section of the larger guide to French/Francophone sources includes online databases, retrospective indexes, subject dictionaries and encyclopedias, bibliographies, specialized sources, and links to selected internet sites. Many of the citations are annotated.

McGill University's Film Subject Guide
A well-organized subject guide that briefly outlines a suggested research process, this page provides information on searching McGill's online catalogue (these tips also apply to the UIUC online catalog) and lists useful databases and internet sites on film studies.

San Diego State University's Subject Guide for Film Resources
This site offers a wealth of information on film studies sources, covering many different aspects of cinema (criticism and reviews, biographies of directors and actors, film festivals and awards, and more).

Temple University's Film Studies Subject Guide
Especially useful for its descriptions of databases (in the "find articles" section) and its explanations of where to find film reviews.

University of North Texas Subject Guide to Radio, Television, and Film
Includes many links to useful online resources, but also citations (further down on the page) to several print indexes, biographical sources, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks (many of which may also be found at UIUC or borrowed via I-Share or Interlibrary Loan).

University of Oregon French Literature and Cinema Research Guide
This page treats literature as well as cinema, but the databases mentioned in the "Finding Articles" section are useful for research in either field, and the annotations to the works on French and Francophone film are especially helpful

Yale University's Research Guide in Film Studies: International Cinema
Includes suggestions of terms for subject searches of library catalogs, resources for statistical information on international cinema, and links to several other useful websites.

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This page was last updated on July 20, 2007. (LJP)