Chronicle of a Summer
| Chronicle of a Summer | |
|---|---|
| Chronique d'un été | |
| Directed by | Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin |
| Produced by | Anatole Dauman |
| Narrated by | Jean Rouch |
| Cinematography | Michel Brault Raoul Coutard Roger Morillière Jean-Jacques Tarbès |
| Edited by | Néna Baratier Françoise Collin Jean Ravel |
| Music by | Pierre Barbaud |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
Chronicle of a Summer (French original title: Chronique d'un été) is a 1961 French documentary film shot during the summer of 1960 by sociologist Edgar Morin and anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch, with the technical and aesthetic collaboration of Québécois director-cameraman Michel Brault.
The film is widely regarded as structurally innovative and an example of cinéma vérité and direct cinema. The term "cinéma vérité" was suggested by the film's publicist and coined by Rouch, highlighting a connection between film and its context, otherwise referred to as reflexive documentary. Brault confirmed this in an interview after a 2011 screening of Chronique d'un été at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.
The film was screened at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI International Critics' Prize. In a 2014 Sight & Sound poll, film critics voted Chronicle of a Summer the sixth-best documentary film of all time.