Jean Rouch Movies

Lightning struck the hut of a Fulani shepherd near a village of settled fishermen, Ganghel, in Niger. A yenendi, a purification ceremony to obtain...

Rites of winter, rites of peyote. A creative documentary based on texts by Antonin Artaud read by Jean Rouch, and the words of the last...

Filmed in Firgoun, Niger, the film documents an initiation ceremony in which a young Songhay woman undergoes ritual preparation for the dance of...

Jean Rouch’s camera follows his friend, filmmaker/actor/critic Farrokh Ghaffari, as he walks and talks us through the famous Shah Mosque in...

Jean Rouch's return to Niger, to meet his African friends and the play "Perses" by Aeschylus provide him with the opportunity to relate his Dionysian...

This film, made in one afternoon, is an "inspired promenade," the discovery of an exhibition with improvised text and commentary. Five shot sequences...

A group of factory workers in post-independence Mozambique perform a ritual of song describing their work in South African gold mines and decrying...

A film about a lion.

A compilation of black and white excerpts from five previous color films by Jean Rouch: Yenendi, the Rainmakers, Cemeteries in the Cliff, The Millet...

Traditional houses and new architecture in Ayorou, an island on the River Niger in the archipelago of Tillaberi. The village and its activities; the...

Every five years, the mask society of the Dogons of Sanga, Mali, organizes a great Dama, a ceremony to end the period of mourning and drive away "the...

Rites and operation of the circumcision of thirty Songhai children on the Niger. Material of this film has been used to make "Les Fils de l'Eau".

Filmed in Wanzerbé, Niger, this short documentary records ritual, market exchange, and ceremonial practices, documenting divination,...

Directed by Jean Rouch.

A woman's funeral in Ghana.

Not much film stock, an inspired camera, a meditation on time, period songs: using contemporary images, shot at a time when the broken city was...

Rain rituals with possession dances among the Songhay and Zarma of Simiri, Zermaganda, Niger. Dry Season: The village of Simiri; water carriers, the...

The fifth year of the Sigui ceremonies, celebrated every sixty years by the Dogons of the Bandiagara cliffs, Mali, takes place in the village of...

A short film about two mothers from Niger and how they care for their children.