Jean-Pierre Gorin
Encyclopedia
Jean-Pierre Gorin is a French
filmmaker and professor
, best known for his work with Nouvelle Vague
luminary Jean-Luc Godard
during what is often referred to as Godard's "radical" period.
Jean-Pierre Gorin was a student of Louis Althusser
, of Michel Foucault
and Jacques Lacan
. He was a radical leftist well before meeting Godard in 1966. Godard relied on some of his discussions with Gorin while writing the script of 1967's La Chinoise. Gorin played a role in the making Le Gai Savoir, which was released in 1969.
In 1968, Gorin and Godard founded the collective Dziga Vertov Group
, and together produced a series of overtly political films including Vent d'est (1970), Tout va bien
(1972), and Letter to Jane
(1972). Gorin left France in the mid-1970s to accept a teaching position at the University of California, San Diego
at the urging of the film-critic and painter Manny Farber
. Gorin has remained on the faculty of Visual Arts at UCSD since 1975, where he teaches courses in film history and criticism to this day. He has also continued to make films - most notably a "Southern California trilogy" of essay films: Poto and Cabengo
(1978), Routine Pleasures (1986), My Crasy Life (1991), and Letter to Peter (1992).
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
filmmaker and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
, best known for his work with Nouvelle Vague
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
luminary Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
during what is often referred to as Godard's "radical" period.
Jean-Pierre Gorin was a student of Louis Althusser
Louis Althusser
Louis Pierre Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy....
, of Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
and Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
. He was a radical leftist well before meeting Godard in 1966. Godard relied on some of his discussions with Gorin while writing the script of 1967's La Chinoise. Gorin played a role in the making Le Gai Savoir, which was released in 1969.
In 1968, Gorin and Godard founded the collective Dziga Vertov Group
Dziga Vertov Group
The Dziga Vertov Group was formed in 1968 by politically active filmmakers including Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin. Their films are defined primarily for Brechtian forms, Marxist ideology, and a lack of personal authorship...
, and together produced a series of overtly political films including Vent d'est (1970), Tout va bien
Tout va bien
Tout va bien is a 1972 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard and collaborator Jean-Pierre Gorin and starring Jane Fonda and Yves Montand.-Overview:...
(1972), and Letter to Jane
Letter to Jane
Letter to Jane is a postscript film to Tout va bien directed by Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin and made under the auspices of the Dziga Vertov Group. Narrated in a back-and-forth style by both Godard and Gorin, the film serves as a 52-minute cinematic essay that deconstructs a single news...
(1972). Gorin left France in the mid-1970s to accept a teaching position at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
at the urging of the film-critic and painter Manny Farber
Manny Farber
Emanuel "Manny" Farber was an American painter, film critic and writer. Often described as "iconoclastic" , Farber developed a distinctive prose style and set of theoretical stances which have had a large influence on later generations of film critics; Susan Sontag considered him to be "the...
. Gorin has remained on the faculty of Visual Arts at UCSD since 1975, where he teaches courses in film history and criticism to this day. He has also continued to make films - most notably a "Southern California trilogy" of essay films: Poto and Cabengo
Poto and Cabengo
Poto and Cabengo are identical twins , who used a language unknown to other people until the age of about eight. Poto and Cabengo is also the name of a documentary film about the girls made by Jean-Pierre Gorin and released in 1979.They were apparently of normal intelligence...
(1978), Routine Pleasures (1986), My Crasy Life (1991), and Letter to Peter (1992).
External links
- Jean-Pierre Gorin, UCSD site, bio, in french
- Senses of Cinema - Great Directors: Erik Ulman, Jean-Pierre Gorin
- Raymond DurgnatRaymond DurgnatRaymond Durgnat was a distinctive and highly influential British film critic, who was born in London of Swiss parents...
's Letter to Jean-Pierre, rouge.com - Jump Cut interview