The question of authorship in documentary film and the Jean Rouch case: an analytical perspective

Abstract

The problem of authorship is difficult to address in film studies and especially in the study of documentary. This article proposes the theoretical model of the field of cultural production developed by Pierre Bourdieu as a particularly interesting approach to this issue. First, we discuss some of the key challenges and theoretical problems related to authorship in the documentary. Then, through the analysis of the authorial position of the ethnographer and filmmaker Jean Rouch, the paper shows up briefly the case of an author who strained the boundaries of the field of film and documentary, consolidating thus as a paradigmatic figure of a certain tradition in the field.