André Bazin

Biography

André Bazin was one of the most influential film critics in post-WWI France. He originally studied to be a teacher, but a stammer prevented him from getting hired. Bazin founded a cinema club during WWII; there he frequently showed government-banned films. Following the war, he began criticizing films for Le Parisien Liberé and other prominent French journals. Bazin founded his own periodical, La Revue du Cinéma, in 1947. Four years later he and Jacques Doniol-Valcroze created Les Cahiers du Cinéma, which became one of Europe's most prominent film journals. As a critic he preferred cinematographic techniques and film genres that presented images realistically. Bazin considered documentary and scientific films as prime examples of his notion of objective reality, which he considered the fundamental element in film imagery. His theories and his support of the auteur theory had great influence upon many French New Wave filmmakers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide