Michel Ciment, the Art of Sharing Movies

Colour, DIGIBETA
France, 2009, 52 min
Section: Tribute to Michel Ciment

Synopsis

Michel Ciment has been a chief witness of cinema history for more than half a century. He is a leading French film critic, journalist and writer. An absolute connoisseur in his field, he considers that his greatest achievement has been to pass on his love of film to other people. This documentary by French artist Simone Lainé is a biographical sketch of an exceptional figure in European film criticism, respected not only by the film-going public, but also by the filmmakers themselves. Thanks to English translations of Ciment’s monographs on major names, he is known and admired by the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Atom Egoyan, who also appear in this documentary. It was often Ciment, in fact, who discovered celebrated filmmakers of the future, providing them with the necessary exposure in the film monthly Positif. Apart from Ciment, the film profile also features various prominent directors and other big names from the silver screen.