Jean Rouch appeared on Screening Room in July 1980 and screened Les Maitres Fous as well as several film excerpts including Rhythm of Work and Death of a Priest. Over a period of five decades Jean Rouch made many films about the Songhay and Dogon of West Africa. He also made, with Edgar Morin, the classic documentary, Chronicle of a Summer about the lives of Parisians. Rouch frequently traveled with his films, showing and talking about them to a wide audience.
Regarded as one of the fathers of "Direct Cinema" and considered one of the most influential documentary makers of the twentieth century, his films are very difficult to find, particularly in North America. Since his tragic death in Africa in 2004, DER has honored his work with a Tribute Site and is in the process of acquiring films by Rouch in addition to the three, Les Maitres Fous, Jaguar and The Lion Hunters which we already distribute as well as four films about Rouch: Jean Rouch and His Camera in the Heart of Africa, Rouch's Gang, Conversations With Jean Rouch, and this episode of Screening Room.
Screening Room was a 1970s Boston television series that for almost ten years offered independent filmmakers a chance to show and discuss their work on a commercial (ABC-TV) affiliate station. The series was developed and hosted by filmmaker Robert Gardner (Dead Birds, Forest of Bliss), who was Chairman of the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies and Director of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard for many years.
This unique program dealt even-handedly with animation, documentary, and experimental film, welcoming such artists as Jan Lenica, John and Faith Hubley, Emile DeAntonio, Jean Rouch, Ricky Leacock, Jonas Mekas, Bruce Baillie, Yvonne Rainer and Michael Snow. Frequently, guests such as Octavio Paz, Stanley Cavell, and Rudolph Arnheim appeared as well.
Nearly 100 programs were produced during the years Screening Room was broadcast. Recently, The Museum of TV and Radio in New York City offered to copy the two-inch master tapes that had been given to the Film Study Center.
