Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

DOCUMENTARY FILM NEWS 83 Notes on the Inst it ut dea Halites Etudes Cineniatographiques by Ruth Partington IDHECs own official publications state clearly its aim and activities, describe its methods, and syllabus. They show how a hundred or so students, French and foreign, are selected and given a two or three years' training to prepare them to realize ambitions to be director, producer, sound engineer, cameraman, decorator, costume designer, cutter or script girl. The public relations side of fDHEC's work may be judged from its programme of outside lectures and projections; members of the general public may also obtain permission to use the library, and may buy IDHECs publications, the Cahiers and the Bulletin. So perhaps more personal impressions, gained as if for a documentary treatment over a period of months, would be more useful in 'bringing alive' this training school for film workers, an exciting experiment. Its students only number about a hundred all told and are concentrated into a converted house with library, studio, lecture rooms and practical workshops of small dimensions. Perhaps this accounts for the personal and lively atmosphere of the place by comparison with the Sorbonne for instance where thousands of students arrive and disperse every day. Or perhaps IDHEC students are all film fanatics devoted to the same drug? Certainly the student community on the fringe of the film world is small : one meets the same people at cine-clubs all over Paris, at the Cinematheque and in specialized libraries and at amateur cinema-circles. But IDHEC itself is the focal point of this world and provides a bridge with the activity of film making. This possibility of contact with film critics and creators is at least as important as the more academic side of the programme. The actual usefulness of the full week's timetable of lectures on literature, history, geography, aesthetics, in relation to the cinema, as well as film history and practice, may be doubted more than its excellent intention. But the value of direct and frequent contact with films and film authorities is at once evident. The staff itself is outstanding; Leon Moussinac, new director of the school, is one of the most profound of French film critics, well known for his books on the Soviet cinema and the film in general as well as for his poetry and fictional writing. He is assisted by Jean Lods, one of France's few established documentary film makers. Among authorities lecturing regularly on their subjects are Georges Sadoul and Jean Mitry on film history. But the circles spread wider Part of the regular week's programme, shared by first and second year students are the Tuesday projection of a new film by its director, and Monday evening lecture — projections by a visitor, alternating with a session in the special documentary series that has been given this winter. The visiting speakers. critics or directors are ready to give explanations and answer questions from this small specialized audience. The meetings are often extraordinarily interesting and valuable. Giuseppe da Santis showing Caccia Tragica, Rene Clement showing extracts from his early documentation La Grande Pastorale and Ceitx du Rail, as well as from La Bataille du Rail and Les Maudits, the critic Andre Bazin discussing the subject of realism and reality, Jean Lods explaining his methods in the documentary studies of artists at work, Maillol and Aubltsson, Jacques Dupont's films of pygmy Africa brought back from an ethnological expedition, are only a few isolated examples. As IDHEC grows older and more ex-students are making films, this contact between film workers and TDHEC is bound to increase. Conversely, IDHECs impact on the film world will grow, in many countries presumably. 1 have met students from Sweden, Bulgaria, Palestine, Egypt, Poland, Canada, the United States, and other countries as well as France. The 'foreign students' have often had some previous practical experience, and so tend to be older than their French counterparts, and more ready to criticize the lack of sufficient practical ti. lining provided by the present material resources of IDHEC. In fact the programme of the school seems bound to develop a critical sense, but its effect on creative ability is less obvious. Any straightforward description of IDHEC inevitably begs many questions — the aesthetic question of the effect of prolonged theoretical training on artistic ability, as raised byDovjenkho on the subject of the Soviet film academy, and the economic question as emphasized by the present crisis in French film production. But it can at least be said that a film worker coming from IDHEC has developed his general culture, acquired a formidable film culture and critical sense, learnt the technical use of his tools at IDHEC and during a probationary period in commercial studios and seen how other men have used them. The next stage, his use of them where he finds opportunity, to make poetry or publicity or what he will, is the test of the individual and of his training and will be seen more clearly as more students graduate into active production. * available again E.W.andM.M. 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