Artist-Technicians are at the Core of Filmmaking

Thursday, March 26 – 11:00 to 12:00 a.m. • Free and open to the public

Location : UR CAMPUS – Jepson School Lecture Room 118

Truffaut, technician?

A masterclass by Director of Cultural Heritage and Conservation of Cinematographic Technologies at the Cinémathèque Française Laurent Mannoni

Although Jean-Luc Godard is always cited as the best example of the French New Wave’s passionate relationship with technologies in filmmaking, François Truffaut was not only a great filmmaker but a savvy technician as well, as this Master Class will illustrate.

Tracing Truffaut’s career through various clips and technical examples from his features films, Mannoni’s presentation will demonstrate how François Truffaut’s filming approach evolved due to him closely following the latest technical developments, adopting increasingly sophisticated cameras and material, and calling upon the best technicians possible. Laurent Mannoni will reveal how Truffaut’s choices, voluntary or not, regarding which technicians to bring into a crew, especially directors of photography, and camera selection, devise the general styles of his films.

In conclusion, Laurent Mannoni petitions for a renewal in studies on film esthetics to take into account the material used and the technicians called upon by directors during the filmmaking process.

About Laurent Mannoni

Laurent Mannoni is Director of Cultural Heritage and Conservation of Cinematographic Technologies at the Cinémathèque Française. He has author and co-authored numerous scholarly publications on early cinema : The Great Art of Light and Shadow : Archaeology of the Cinema ; L’oeuvre de Georges Méliès ; Georges Demeny : pionnier du cinema ; Lanterne magique et film peint; Les premières années de la Société Gaumont ; Lettres d’Etienne-Jules Marey à Georges Demenÿ; The Art of Illusion; Antoine cineaste.
In 2006, he published Histoire de la Cinémathèque française, which was awarded best book on cinema in 2006 by the French Union of Film Critics.
Laurent Mannoni is also an active member and researcher of the Association française de recherche sur l’histoire du cinéma and has organized for the Cinémathèque française and other museums numerous exhibitions on early cinema, its inventions and equipment.