Epstein, Jean

(March 26, 1897, Warsaw, Po­land-April I, 1953, Paris, France)

   The son of a French-Jewish father and a Polish mother, he left Warsaw in 1903 with his mother and sister after his father died. He was a schoolboy in Lausanne, Switzerland, until the start of new school year of 1909, when he went to a private school, la Villa Saint-Jean. After attending "math-élem." classes until 1915, he chose to go to Lyon (where his father had lived). In 1916, he opted first to study for en­trance to the Ecole Centrale before branching off into natural sciences and medicine. A nonresident student at Lyon General Hospital, he met Auguste Lumière and became his secretary. Passionately interested in literature and poetry, he founded in December 1920 a review, Promenoir, and obtained texts from writer Blaise Cendrars, filmmaker Auguste Lumière, and painter Fernand Léger. Blaise Cendrars (who worked at the time as an assistant director to Abel Gance) introduced him to publisher Paul Laffitte, the former founder of the Film d'Art in 1908 and the creator and owner of the Editions de la Sirène. In 1920, Laffitte published his first book, La Poésie d'aujourd'hui, un nouvel état de l'Intelligence (with a preface by Blaise Cendrars), who was praised by film theoreticians Louis Moussinac and Louis Delluc. In 1921, Laffite hired him as a secretary, and Delluc asked him to write articles in his review Cinéa and to be his as­sistant on the movie Le Tonnerre. The same year, he published another essay, Bonjour Cinéma, which strengthened his reputation of being "the first film theoretician in the world", according to the words of film historian (and theoretician) Jean Mitry. He di­rected his first film in 1922. Thanks to his books and his most interesting films, his name remains linked to the avant-garde. Other books: 1922 La Lyrisophie (poetry; Editions La Sirène); 1926 Le Cinématographe vu de l'Etna (essay; Les Ecrivains réunis); 1932 L'Or des Mers (novel; Editions Valois); 1935 Les Recteurs et la Sirène (novel; Editions Montaigne); Photogénie de l'Impondérable (essay; Editions Corymbe); 1947 L'Intelligence d'une Machine (essay; Editions Jacques Melot); 1948 Le Cinéma du Diable (essay; Jacques Melot); 1955 Esprit de Cinéma (Editions Jeheber).

 Filmography

        ◘ Les Vendanges (documentary; short)

        ◘ Pasteur

        ◘ L 'Auberge rouge / USA: The Red Inn (also screenwriter, adapter)

        ◘ Coeur fidèle (also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ La Montagne infidèle (documentary; short)

1924 ◘ La Belle Nivernaise / USA: The Beauty From Nivernais (also screenwriter, adapter, editor)

        ◘ La Goutte de Sang / Du Sang dans les Ténèbres (Jean Epstein started to shoot this film, and it was finished by Maurice Mariaud)

        ◘ Le Lion des Mogols (also screenwriter, adapter, editor)

1925 ◘ L'Affiche / USA: The Poster (also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Double Amour

        ◘ Les Aventures de Robert Macaire / USA: The Adventures of Robert Macaire (five-episode serial)

        ◘ Photogénies (documentary short)

1927 ◘ Mauprat (also screenwriter, adapter, producer)

        ◘ Au Pays de George Sand (documentary; short; also producer)

        ◘ Six et demi, onze (also producer)

        ◘ La Glace à trois Faces (also screenwriter, adapter, producer)

1928 ◘ La Chute de la Maison Usher / UK and USA: The Fall of the House of Usher (also screenwriter, adapter, producer)

        ◘ Finis Terrae (documentary; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Sa Tête (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Pas de la Mule (documentary short)

        ◘ Mor-Vran / La Mer des Corbeaux (medium-length; documentary)

        ◘ Notre-Dame de Paris (documentary)

        ◘ La Chanson des Peupliers (illustrated song)

        ◘ Le Cor (illustrated song)

1932 ◘ Les Berceaux (illustrated song)

        ◘ La Villanelle des Rubans (illustrated song)

        ◘ Le Vieux Chaland (illustrated song)

        ◘ Le Petit Chemin de Fer (short)

        ◘ L'Or des Mers (documentary; shot in 1931)

        ◘ L'Homme à l'Hispano (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist)

        ◘ La Châtelaine du Liban (also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ Chanson d'Ar-Mor (short; also adapter)

        ◘ La Vie d'un grand Journal (short)

        ◘ Marius et Olive à Paris (shot in 1933)

        ◘ Cœur de Gueux / Cuor di vagabondo (France / Italy)

        ◘ La Bourgogne (short)

        ◘ La Bretagne (short)

        ◘ Vive la Vie (medium-length)

1938 ◘ La Femme du Bout du Monde (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist)

        ◘ La Relève (documentary)

        ◘ Les Bâtisseurs (short)

        ◘ Eau vive (short; also screenwriter)

1939 ◘ Artères de France (short; co-director with René Lucot)

1947 ◘ Kampen om tungtvannet / La Bataille de l'Eau lourde / UK and USA: Operation Swallow: The Battle of Heavy Water (documentary; Titus Vibe Muller, Jean Dréville; Norway / France; Jean Epstein collaborated on the shooting of the first part of the film)

        ◘ Le Tempestaire (short; also screenwriter)

1948 ◘ Les Feux de la Mer (short)