Jean-Louis Comolli

Jean-Louis Comolli (born 30 July 1941) is a French writer, editor, and film director. He was editor in chief of Cahiers du cinéma from 1966 to 1978,^[1] during which period he wrote the influential essays "Machines of the Visible" (1971) and "Technique and Ideology: Camera, Perspective, Depth of Field" (1971-2), both of which have been translated in English anthologies of film and media studies. This work was important in the discussion on apparatus theory, an attempt to rethink cinema as a site for the production and maintenance of dominant state ideology in the wake of May 1968.

After his tenure at Cahiers, Comolli continued his work as a director and has since published numerous works on film theory, documentary, and jazz. He currently teaches film theory at the Universities of Paris VIII, Barcelona, Strasburg and Genève.^[1]

In the spring of 2008, Comolli was invited to the Visions du réel documentary film festival in Nyon, Switzerland, where he developed his theory of documentary cinema.^[2]

Select filmography[]

• 1968 : (co-director : André S. Labarthe)
• 1969 :
• 1975 :
• 1981 :
• 1983 :
• 1986 : (TV)
• 1987 : (TV)
• 1989 :
• 1989 :
• 1992 :
• 1993 :
• 1994 :
• 1995 : (TV)
• 1996 :
• 1997 :
• 1997 :
• 2000 :
• 2003 :
• 2004 : (TV)
• 2005 : (TV)

Select bibliography[]

• "Machines of the Visible." in Electronic Culture: Technology and Visual Representation, ed. Timothy Druckrey. Aperture Press (1996 [1971]).
• "Technique and Ideology: Camera, Perspective, Depth of Field.” in Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology: A Film Theory Reader, ed. Philip Rosen. Columbia University Press (1986 [1972]).

External links[]

• Audio interview with Jean-Louis Comolli (in French)

References[]