Alexandre Astruc

The son of journalists, Alexandre Astruc grew up on the ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre, was one of the youthful literati surrounding the philosopher in the St Germaine-des-Pres cafes, espousing a new French culture that demanded new representations in fiction and film. After publishing his first novel "Les Vacances" in 1945 and beginning his career as a journalist and film critic, he carved out his niche in the small library of worthwhile film theory . His short article "The Birth of a New Avant-Garde: La Camera-Stylo" in L'Ecrain Francais argued that film should "write" in its own language as opposed to that of the theater or literature. Astruc got his first taste of filmmaking, assisting directors Marc Allegret and Marcel Acherd in the late 40s, but his own highly anticipated films were slow in coming. Aside from a couple routine 16mm shorts, it was 1952 before he directed the 45-minute long, critically-acclaimed "Le Rideau cramoisi/The Crimson Curtain," a 19th Century mystery tale reduced to a set of unforgettable images and a soundtrack containing no dialogue whatsoever.