French Film

Until now, Jacques Feyder has been unjustly reduced almost to a footnote in film history, but these beautifully-restored editions with stunning tints and new orchestral scores reveal him as one of the finest silent film directors in Europe. Following these accomplishments, Feyder was invited to Hollywood in 1929 to direct two outstanding films with Greta Garbo, The Kiss and the German version of Anna Christie, and to London for Marlene Dietrich in Knight without Armour; he is probably best remembered for Carnival in Flanders (La Kermesse heroique, 1935), which, unfortunately, was cut by about one-third for American release.

This issue of "Projections" celebrates French cinema by using the interviews conducted by "Positif" magazine with the major French film-makers of the past 50 years. The book presents a panorama of French cinema ranging from the aesthetic masterpieces of Robert Bresson to the searing aggression of Mathieu Kassovitz's La Haine, including along the way the masters of the French New Wave: Alain Resnais, Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol.