Jacques Perrin

An actor, and then later on an activist producer and director, Jacques Perrin’s career as a cinematographer did not follow the beaten path. Although born into the profession, he forged an original and demanding path for himself, and confronted the most improbable challenges and stakes with audacity and tenacity, believing that his only talent was “knowing how to bring together talented people”. Those who participated in his films will remember, amongst his other qualities, his kindness, his courage, his obstinacy, his confidence, and the respect he showed them.

As was the case for many of us, Jacques Perrin’s death deeply affected me. He’s one of those people you believe are immortal given the space they take up in your life and the guidance they provide you. He helped me trace my own path starting with Winged Migration.

All of us have a fairy godfather or godmother who brought us into the tight-knit world of the cinema. Meeting Jacques Perrin was decisive for me, and he introduced me to many other people. He was looking for a camera assistant to work with Luciano Tovoli on the first and only film by Marc Grünbaum that he produced, Adoption. The year was 1979, I was finally about to work on an ambitious feature film with a talented cinematographer.

As we were shooting Winged Migration, we were desperately looking for the right solution to shoot the particular flight patterns of cranes, who make huge detours around thermal currents. I had suggested we use an Aaton A-Minima 16mm camera to make the work easier for the cameraman who was strapped into the harness of a paraglider. Jacques Perrin’s response was sharp : “Dominique, we are shooting a cinema film in 35mm.”

“Philippe, do you think we could go even further ?” I heard that question so many times during the six years I worked on Oceans with Jacques Perrin. I was the technical supervisor and one of the 24 directors of photography for this film.

Jacques,
It is hard to summarize thirty-five years of conversations in just a few lines. What I know is that you had a special relationship with each of us ; that was your strength. You were able to raise an army of filmmakers to conquer your follies, you were able to make us believe that nothing was as important as the cinema and that only poetry gave meaning to life.

Jacques, you’ve gone and joined your partner and our mutual friend Luc Drion, who had left us much too soon, and I am sure that both of you will have impassioned discussions while you watch us muddling about during these difficult times for cinema, for politics, and for the future of planet Earth.

« Philippe, est-ce que tu penses que l’on peut aller plus loin ? » Cette phrase, je l’ai entendue très souvent au cours des six années pendant lesquelles j’ai travaillé sur Océans avec Jacques Perrin. J’étais superviseur technique et l’un des 24 directeurs de la photo de ce film.

Comédien puis producteur et réalisateur engagé, le parcours de Jacques Perrin n’emprunte pas les sentiers habituels d’une “carrière” cinématographique. Enfant de la balle, il a cependant tracé une voie originale et exigeante, affronté avec audace et ténacité les difficultés et les paris les plus improbables, se reconnaissant pour seul talent, celui de « savoir réunir des gens qui en possédaient. » Les personnes qui auront participé à ses films retiendront de lui, entre autres qualités, sa bienveillance, son courage, son obstination, sa confiance et son respect envers elles.

Printemps 2008, repérages

Les repérages ont toujours été pour moi un moment privilégié. Une préfiguration du tournage. En petit, et avec moins d’enjeu. Chacun y prend ses repères, teste ses potentiels. Il y a des inconvénients parfois : être coincé dans un minibus pendant une semaine, et devoir demander pour faire pipi.

Cette fois ce sont des rendez-vous dans Paris. Des lieux qu’on ne verrait jamais sans cela. Une galerie privée du Petit Palais, un hangar à dirigeables construit par Gustave Eiffel à Meudon, une soufflerie banc d’essai pour l’aéronautique des trente glorieuses, ou le Palais Brongniart étrangement silencieux, vide, sinistre, que personne n’a jamais revu depuis les années 1970.

On cherche un lieu pour y installer un musée imaginaire, le musée des espèces disparues.

Une sorte de galerie de l’évolution, mais à l’envers : la galerie de la régression.

Nelly Flores a photographié le Micro Salon pour l’AFC. Elle vous le fait visiter de fond en comble comme si vous y étiez, ou presque...

For its ninth year, the Micro Salon hosted by the AFC will be once again held at the Femis School in the 18th district of Paris.
First novelty : unlike previous years, the Salon will take place over two days, on Friday February 6th, from 10AM to 8PM and on Saturday February 7th, from 10AM to 5PM.
Another innovation : the AFC will organize two panel discussions on Saturday morning in the Jean Renoir screening room of the Femis.
To highlight the artistic as well as the technical aspects of custom-made shooting tools, there will be a panel presentation with film excerpts by members of the crew of Oceans, the upcoming huge film project directed by Jacques Cluzaud and Jacques Perrin.
Also, this year the AFC has decided to open the Micro Salon to Europe, and to present European directors of photography by inviting our sister Belgian association, the SBC, to whom we give carte blanche.