Gérard Courant

Gérard Courant

Born: December 4, 1951
in Lyon, France
Gérard Courant is a French filmmaker, writer, actor, poet and independent producer born on December 4, 1951 in Lyon, France. He is the son of the writer and historian René Courant. He is one of the most prolific filmmakers of cinema. He created, directed and produced Cinématon, the longest film in the world (over 200 hours long). In all, he has shot nearly 7,000 filmed portraits and a very large number of other films (more than 1,000) since the mid-1970s. He has also published several books on cinema.

Movies for Gérard Courant...

Le Passeur immobile
Title: Le Passeur immobile
Character: Self
Released: December 14, 2021
Type: Movie
Le Passeur immobile, which covers the year 1987, is a Booklet filmed stuck between The Days and the Nights (1986) and The Artifice and the Fake (1988). These Notebooks have been punctuating my activity as a filmmaker for about fifteen years. They are like a life parallel to my other films and film series (Cinema, Group Portrait, Read, etc.). They are also like a letter to the spectators.
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Les Jours et les Nuits
Title: Les Jours et les Nuits
Character: Self
Released: November 19, 2021
Type: Movie
I give a methodical account of my film work: the creation of new series (Lire, Trio, Avec Mariola), the shooting of a new feature film (Amours décolorées which will take ten years to edit) with Mariola San Martin.
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Autour de Vent-Pire
Title: Autour de Vent-Pire
Released: September 30, 2020
Type: Movie
"Autour de Vent-Pire" is a documentary recounting the shooting of "Vent-Pire", the vampire film that Gérard Courant shot on November 12, 1970 at the Porte du Diable in the Pasques forest in Plombières-lès-Dijon.
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Boris Lehman à Toulouse
Title: Boris Lehman à Toulouse
Released: June 12, 2020
Type: Movie
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Le Cinéma Le Trianon de Verneuil-sur-Avre célèbre Juliet Berto
Title: Le Cinéma Le Trianon de Verneuil-sur-Avre célèbre Juliet Berto
Character: Self
Released: September 3, 2016
Type: Movie
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Mes films commencent au moment où les autres se terminent (Conversation avec Teo Hernandez I)
Title: Mes films commencent au moment où les autres se terminent (Conversation avec Teo Hernandez I)
Character: Himself (voice)
Released: September 24, 2014
Type: Movie
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Un cinéaste qui ne tient pas la caméra est comme un peintre qui ne tient pas le pinceau (Conversation avec Teo Hernandez II)
Title: Un cinéaste qui ne tient pas la caméra est comme un peintre qui ne tient pas le pinceau (Conversation avec Teo Hernandez II)
Character: Himself (voice)
Released: September 4, 2014
Type: Movie
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Teo Hernandez sur Radio Ark en Ciel
Title: Teo Hernandez sur Radio Ark en Ciel
Character: Himself (voice)
Released: April 26, 2014
Type: Movie
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My Conversations on Film
Title: My Conversations on Film
Character: Himself
Released: October 13, 2013
Type: Movie
This distinctly personal journey into the artistic possibilities of independent film is not to be missed. Jonas Mekas, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Robert Kramer and many other visionaries and mavericks of the silver screen – as well as a book seller, a critic and a psychoanalyst – discuss what cinema has meant to them, what it is and what it could be and, implicitly, how it has changed over the 18 years in which this film was shot. Director Boris Lehman leads the charge, drawing in moments of absurdist humour and inventive camera work; he keeps things raw and spontaneous. His encounters with the now much-missed Jean Rouch and Stephen Dwoskin are particularly touching and stand testament to their personal playfulness and candour. An engaging, absorbing, epic odyssey of a movie.
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Le Contrebandier des profondeurs
Title: Le Contrebandier des profondeurs
Released: July 9, 2013
Type: Movie
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In Memoriam Marcel Hanoun
Title: In Memoriam Marcel Hanoun
Released: June 3, 2013
Type: Movie
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Le Chemin de Resson : Joseph Morder rend visite à Marcel Hanoun
Title: Le Chemin de Resson : Joseph Morder rend visite à Marcel Hanoun
Released: June 3, 2013
Type: Movie
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Une cérémonie secrète
Title: Une cérémonie secrète
Released: November 3, 2012
Type: Movie
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Joseph Morder filme le défilé du Premier Mai
Title: Joseph Morder filme le défilé du Premier Mai
Released: November 3, 2012
Type: Movie
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L’oeuvre d’art est utile car elle consolide notre liberté (entretien avec Philippe Garrel IV)
Title: L’oeuvre d’art est utile car elle consolide notre liberté (entretien avec Philippe Garrel IV)
Character: Himself (voice)
Released: September 1, 2012
Type: Movie
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L’Art, c’est se perdre dans les châteaux du rêve (entretien avec Philippe Garrel III)
Title: L’Art, c’est se perdre dans les châteaux du rêve (entretien avec Philippe Garrel III)
Character: Himself (voice)
Released: September 1, 2012
Type: Movie
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Jardins clandestins
Title: Jardins clandestins
Released: August 24, 2012
Type: Movie
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Teo Hernandez à Paris
Title: Teo Hernandez à Paris
Character: Himself
Released: August 21, 2012
Type: Movie
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L'Artifice et le factice
Title: L'Artifice et le factice
Character: Self
Released: July 19, 2012
Type: Movie
"L'Artifice et le factice" is the episode that covers the period from January 1, 1988 to December 31, 1988 of my filmed Notebooks.
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We Must Save Him! (interview with Werner Schroeter)
Title: We Must Save Him! (interview with Werner Schroeter)
Character: Himself (voice)
Released: July 3, 2012
Type: Movie
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Petite intrusion dans l’univers incandescent de Werner Schroeter
Title: Petite intrusion dans l’univers incandescent de Werner Schroeter
Character: Self
Released: July 3, 2012
Type: Movie
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Passions (entretien avec Philippe Garrel I)
Title: Passions (entretien avec Philippe Garrel I)
Character: Himself (voice)
Released: June 3, 2012
Type: Movie
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Attention poésie (entretien avec Philippe Garrel II)
Title: Attention poésie (entretien avec Philippe Garrel II)
Character: Himself (voice)
Released: June 3, 2012
Type: Movie
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Zouzou à Saint-Denis
Title: Zouzou à Saint-Denis
Released: June 3, 2012
Type: Movie
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Alicudi 1 Bella
Title: Alicudi 1 Bella
Released: April 14, 2011
Type: Movie
A cinematographic logbook around the mythical island of Alicudi in Sicily.
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Nuits transparentes
Title: Nuits transparentes
Released: April 14, 2011
Type: Movie
Strolling through France (Roanne, Nice and Carcassonne) with some excursions abroad (Munich, Montreal, New York).
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Vie
Title: Vie
Released: April 14, 2011
Type: Movie
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Vivre à Naples Et Mourir
Title: Vivre à Naples Et Mourir
Character: Himself
Released: January 16, 2011
Type: Movie
"On the occasion of the premiere of Nel Regno di Napoli in Cannes in 1978, Werner Schroeter gave me an audio interview about this film and about his work in general. Our meeting took place on the terrace of the Hotel Majestic, in the midst of excitement of the Cannes festival life, a few days after the screening of Nel Regno di Napoli and in the presence of the photographer Jean-Claude Moireau. Vivre à Naples et mourir is the audio capture of that informal meeting that happened on 20 May 1978 and which is, as per director's wish, more like a casual conversation than an interview in the strict sense of the term (a set of questions and answers).
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Alicudi
Title: Alicudi
Released: July 3, 2008
Type: Movie
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2 ou 3 choses que je sais de Joseph Morder
Title: 2 ou 3 choses que je sais de Joseph Morder
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 1, 2007
Type: Movie
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Un débat À travers l'univers
Title: Un débat À travers l'univers
Character: Himself
Released: March 30, 2006
Type: Movie
"A Debate Across the Universe" is, on the one hand, the capture of the debate which followed the world premiere screening of my film "Across the Universe", presented as part of the "Ethnology and Cinema" in Grenoble, at the Les Méliès cinema in Saint-Marcellin and, on the other hand, the criticism of this debate and additional information relating to the staging of "Across the Universe".
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Trying to Describe Oneself
Title: Trying to Describe Oneself
Character: Himself
Released: November 4, 2005
Type: Movie
Trying to describe oneself is a movie about representation. How it is possible, through film, to describe oneself and describe others. With the camera as mirror and third eye. At first, a collage-like combination of letter-writing, investigation and journey, something between documentary and feature film. Finally, a portrait of Boris Lehman from 1989 to 1995, part II of BABEL.
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Les deux Lucy
Title: Les deux Lucy
Character: Himself
Released: November 18, 2003
Type: Movie
Les Deux Lucy is a short documentary portrait of the shooting of Raphaël Bassan's film Lucy en miroir. It's the opportunity for us to look at one of our contemporary filmmakers and important film critics of what we call in French cinémas differents, meaning a different way of making films. Our making of offers the opportunity to follow, step by step, the making of this short film with scenes shot on the set, and to listen to comments by the filmmaker about his work.
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Lucy en Miroir
Title: Lucy en Miroir
Character: Jonathan (voice)
Released: November 18, 2003
Type: Movie
The fortuitous meeting of two women to the identical first name, Lucy, who formerly loved the same man, Jonathan, induced, in this film, of the polysemous variations on the memory, art, and the difficult relationship between creation and emotional life. Dehumanized by an exclusive artistic practice, the man lost his reference marks little by little. "Lucy en miroir" wants to be, also, a shifted and transverse second reading of "The Contempt" ("Le Mépris") of Godard, by a step more plastic than analytical or conclusive.
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Périssable Paradis
Title: Périssable Paradis
Released: December 27, 2002
Type: Movie
15 years through Le Bois de Vincennes - The "before" and "after" 1999 storm destructions.
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2000 Cinématons
Title: 2000 Cinématons
Character: Self
Released: September 18, 2001
Type: Movie
A film about an ongoing cinematic adventure that began in 1978: a vast anthology of personality portraits called Cinématons, dealing with people in the arts. Historical, ethnological, sociological and psychological, this anthology is a living record of the artistic community of the last 20th century which attempts to answer these questions: Why film everyone? Why choose cultural personalities? How do the subjects look at their image? How much exhibitionism and narcissism is involved in being filmed?
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Encore Cinématé !
Title: Encore Cinématé !
Character: Himself
Released: January 25, 2001
Type: Movie
Encore Cinématé ! is a fake Cinématon by Gérard Courant, the author and designer of this famous film series. It is not part of the anthology and is therefore out of collection. However, he has all the characteristics of an official Cinématon but the filmmaker, who had just lent himself to the cinematon game a year earlier, on the occasion of the 2000th portrait of his collection, did not want to overload his fetish series with new portraits of him. He preferred not to integrate it while ensuring that this portrait has a real existence, that it is visible and that it is a film in its own right.
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Primitifs
Title: Primitifs
Released: January 1, 2001
Type: Movie
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Le journal de Joseph M.
Title: Le journal de Joseph M.
Released: February 15, 2000
Type: Movie
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Zanzibar à Saint-Sulpice
Title: Zanzibar à Saint-Sulpice
Character: Self
Released: May 24, 1999
Type: Movie
30 years after their artistic revolution, members of the Zanzibar group meet in 1999 in Saint-Sulpice Square in Paris (France) in front of Gérard Courant's camera.
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Journey to the Center of the World
Title: Journey to the Center of the World
Released: February 2, 1998
Type: Movie
Voyage au centre du monde is, following an invitation from the new Belgrade town hall and the government of the Republika Serbska, the film brought back by Gérard Courant from his trip with a group of writers in Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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Amours décolorées
Title: Amours décolorées
Released: February 2, 1998
Type: Movie
Amours décolorées is a cinematographic poem to the glory of Mariola San Martin, model, stylist, dancer and Spanish photographer.
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Omelette
Title: Omelette
Released: January 14, 1998
Type: Movie
A young man tired of writing and rewriting a screenplay decides to begin a Super 8mm film diary. He films his parents and those close to him and determines to tell the about his homosexuality.
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Chambéry-Les Arcs
Title: Chambéry-Les Arcs
Character: Self
Released: November 1, 1996
Type: Movie
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Coude à coude
Title: Coude à coude
Character: Himself
Released: July 5, 1996
Type: Movie
Coude à coude is an episode of Gérard Courant's Filmed Carnets that follows Velo Love (July 1 to 3, 1996), in which journalist and screenwriter Alain Riou proposed to the filmmaker to accompany him by bike on the course of the mountain stage of the Tour de France, Chambéry-Les Arcs.
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Up and Down
Title: Up and Down
Character: Le maso
Released: March 27, 1993
Type: Movie
A bicycle race is held every year in a pass of the Alps called Parpaillon. With the energy of a skillful cyclist perhaps as a great tribute to François, the mailman played by Tati in The Big Day, Moullet makes a comedy by pedaling at a pace that allows him to reinvent the possibilities of film gags. La Cabale des oursins is a guided tour to the northern France, transformed into a Geography lesson in the pataphysical style of an Alfred Jarry disciple.
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Otage
Title: Otage
Released: January 1, 1989
Type: Movie
Inspired by the detention of Jean-Paul Kauffmann and Michel Seurat in Lebanon, hostages and improbable currency for terrorists...
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Le Jour où Antenne 2 m'a cinématonné
Title: Le Jour où Antenne 2 m'a cinématonné
Released: April 16, 1988
Type: Movie
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Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle
Title: Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle
Character: L'inspecteur
Released: February 4, 1987
Type: Movie
Two young girls meet, Reinette from the countryside and Mirabelle from Paris, and decide to take a flat together in Paris where they attend University. Four successive stories about their daily lives illustrate the very different views, characters and relation to the world of these two friends.
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Le Jour où TF1 m'a cinématonné
Title: Le Jour où TF1 m'a cinématonné
Released: December 2, 1986
Type: Movie
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Paradise Hotel
Title: Paradise Hotel
Released: April 15, 1986
Type: Movie
A diverse group of guests gather in a small hotel in Paris to contemplate the state of their lives in this pretentious drama. Joseph Goldman (Fernando Rey) is a washed-up Hollywood actor making a living in the dinner-theater circuit. Accompanied by his wife Sarah (Carole Regnier), Goldman meets Frederique (Berangere Bonvoisin), who is hiding from her former lover. French financier Arthur (Fabrice Luchini) hopes to get into the film industry and bends the ear of a British director (Michael Medwin). The talkative film has little action, and none of the characters evoke much interest or resolve their dilemma.
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The Case of the Morituri Divisions
Title: The Case of the Morituri Divisions
Character: Inspecteur
Released: November 13, 1985
Type: Movie
The story about gladiators against a German background. One of them, Ettore, has become a star of the underworld. He ends up breaking down, caught in a role he can no longer fulfill. His last betrayal is to spill the beans to the press. –São Paulo International Film Festival
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Gérard Courant filme Cinématon
Title: Gérard Courant filme Cinématon
Released: March 20, 1985
Type: Movie
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About Greece
Title: About Greece
Released: February 7, 1985
Type: Movie
Gérard Courant films the routes of his voyage in Greece with a Super8 camera. Reflections, waves, ports and landscapes are edited at a dizzying pace; in their midst, portraits appear of a very beautiful woman, along with images of the director who turns the camera on himself, showing his face reddened by the sun.
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Un film (autoportrait)
Title: Un film (autoportrait)
Character: Self
Released: May 23, 1984
Type: Movie
The shooting diary of a film shot in France and in the United States. Using photos of Paris and of New York City, excerpts of his former films, statements by friends of his and shooting sequences of the film itself, tormented filmmaker Marcel Hanoun has made a heterogeneous and unclassifiable film about the difficulty of filming.
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La Neige tremblait sur les arbres
Title: La Neige tremblait sur les arbres
Released: April 7, 1984
Type: Movie
A Ciné-poem – An impressionist ballad in the early 80’s.
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Spoonful
Title: Spoonful
Released: April 6, 1984
Type: Movie
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Genova Genova
Title: Genova Genova
Released: April 5, 1984
Type: Movie
A song of love to the city of Genoa. The film wanders the streets of the city center and explore the beautiful cemetery and then climb the hills which offer an amazing view over the old town crossed by a highway and port.
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Au petit Suisse
Title: Au petit Suisse
Released: June 22, 1982
Type: Movie
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Le lapin à deux têtes
Title: Le lapin à deux têtes
Released: December 8, 1981
Type: Movie
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Cocktail Morlock
Title: Cocktail Morlock
Character: Self
Released: January 31, 1981
Type: Movie
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La Femme en vert
Title: La Femme en vert
Character: Himself
Released: April 19, 1980
Type: Movie
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Le chien amoureux
Title: Le chien amoureux
Released: March 15, 1980
Type: Movie
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Mon tricot (Thanx to Wilma Schoer)
Title: Mon tricot (Thanx to Wilma Schoer)
Released: December 31, 1979
Type: Movie
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L'Été madrilène
Title: L'Été madrilène
Released: April 5, 1979
Type: Movie
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Hérésie pour Magritte IV
Title: Hérésie pour Magritte IV
Released: April 4, 1979
Type: Movie
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Cinématon
Title: Cinématon
Character: N°0 / N°1000 / N°1001 / N°2000 / N°3000
Released: December 20, 1978
Type: Movie
Cinématon is a 156-hour long experimental film by French director Gérard Courant. It was the longest film ever released until 2011. Composed over 36 years from 1978 until 2006, it consists of a series of over 2,821 silent vignettes (cinématons), each 3 minutes and 25 seconds long, of various celebrities, artists, journalists and friends of the director, each doing whatever they want for the allotted time. Subjects of the film include directors Barbet Schroeder, Nagisa Oshima, Volker Schlöndorff, Ken Loach, Benjamin Cuq, Youssef Chahine, Wim Wenders, Joseph Losey, Jean-Luc Godard, Samuel Fuller and Terry Gilliam, chess grandmaster Joël Lautier, and actors Roberto Benigni, Stéphane Audran, Julie Delpy and Lesley Chatterley. Gilliam is featured eating a 100-franc note, while Fuller smokes a cigar. Courant's favourite subject was a 7-month-old baby. The film was screened in its then-entirety in Avignon in November 2009 and was screened in Redondo Beach, CA on April 9, 2010.