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‘Petit à petit’

‘Petit à petit’, by Jean Rouch, in three parts at the CCCB

Un exercici de ficció a la vegada que un assaig etnogràfic

Jean Rouch (1917 – 2004) was a filmmaker and anthropologist who, through his films, was able to share his research with a much wider audience. He was so important that he is considered one of the inspirations for the French New Wave, with his ethnographic films and approach to docufiction. One of his most noteworthy works is Petit à petit, which premièred in 1969. We now have the opportunity to see the long version (230 minutes) in three parts at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona in the Xcèntric 2019 series ‘Shared anthropology’. This film was written as a continuation of Jaguar, another film by Rouch, although it ended up taking on a life of its own. Damouré, the main character, is a parody of the director who becomes an ethnologist seeking to shake sociological observation to its very foundations. Although the piece is somewhat exaggerated, Jean Rouch shows truth through the filter of fiction, which is why some have called it a fable parading as research.

Petit à petit will be shown in three parts at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona. The first part, ‘Les lettres persanes’, will be on 14 April at 6:30 pm. ‘Afrique sur Seine’, the second part, will be shown on 18 April at 7:30 pm. And the final part, ‘L’imagination au pouvoir’, will be on 21 April at 6:30 pm.

Tickets cost €4 per session. More information, and tickets to the showings, is available on the CCCB website.

Publication date: Tuesday, 09 April 2019
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