Georges Franju

Theater decorator then poster artist, Georges Franju (1912-1987) accepted a job in a printing press and met Henri Langlois. Together, they shot their first short film in 1934, Métro. In 1936, he then contributed to the creation of the Cinémathèque française. Between 1948 and 1958, Georges Franju directed thirteen short films and established himself as one of the leaders of French documentary makers. With his first feature film (he shot eight of them), La Tête contre les murs (1958), starring Jean-Pierre Mocky and adapted by him, he mirrors the psychiatric institution and the “normal” world. Other very personal works followed, such as Les Yeux sans visage, with Edith Scob, who became his favorite actress. Franju was a free and iconoclastic filmmaker, not belonging to any spiritual family. The only link between all his films is a militant claim in favor of dreams and freedom.