EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based international sales company mk2 Films has signed a worldwide representation deal, excluding North America and Spain, for the works of late cinema vérité pioneer Jean Rouch.
Rouch, who spent much of his adult life in Niger, broke fresh ground with his merging of anthropology with cinema to pioneer cinéma vérité, with his work going on to be an inspiration for the directors of the French New Wave.
The deal is the company’s first with Les Films du Jeudi, the company of late renowned producer Pierre Braunberger (It’s My Life, Shoot the Pianist), which is now run by his daughter Laurence Braunberger.
It comes as the New Wave is in the spotlight at Cannes thanks to the world premiere of Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague revisiting the production of Jean-Luc Godard’s shoot of Breathless, which mentions both Rouch and Braunberger.
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Working with Braunberger, Rouch is credited with bridging French and West African cultures, as well redefining documentary as a deeply human, artistic form.
His approach—using lightweight cameras, spontaneous filming, and collaborative storytelling—broke with traditional ethnographic distance, creating a radically new and immersive way of capturing reality on screen.
The deal includes restored versions of Jean Rouch’s features I, a Black (1957), The Human Pyramide (1959), as well as short films, such as controversial The Mad Masters (1955).
Founded in 1964, Les Films du Jeudi manages the oeuvre of Braunberger, whose prolific output spans nearly a century. The collection encompasses over 111 feature films, 165 documentaries and 130 shorts—featuring works by cinematic luminaries such as Jean Renoir, Jean-Luc Godard, and Chris Marker.
“This partnership is a natural convergence between two independent houses devoted to auteur cinema,” said Nathanaël Karmitz, Chairman of the Board of mk2. “It allows us to welcome the groundbreaking work of ethnographic pioneer Jean Rouch, whose innovative blending of fiction and documentary reshaped the documentary form.”
