“The pickings were poor and not worth the risk.”
Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)
Sep
6
Sun
The newspaper of Sunday, September 6, announcing a derby. DP: Léonce-Henri Burel.
– Michel
Mélodie en sous-sol [Any Number Can Win] (Henri Verneuil, 1963)
Sep
6
Tue
Mario (Henri Virlojeux), bathhouse proprietor. A nearby wall calendar reads mardi, septembre 6. DP: Louis Page.
“That's the trouble with young people – they're so doggone young!”
Touchez pas au grisbi (Jacques Becker, 1954)
Sep
5
1953
.png)
A hand holds up a paper announcing a large reward for who knows more about eight stolen gold bars. The crime took place at Orly Airport on September 5, 1953. DP: Pierre Montazel.
– Max
E-clip-se (Chris Marker, 1999)
Aug
11
1999
.png)
A young woman or child at the Jardin des plantes de Paris wears protective glasses while looking up in amazement during the August 11, 1999 solar eclipse, her baguette a vague memory. DP: Chris Marker.
“I don't give a damn. But I have the jewels and I need the money.”
Le doulos [The Informer] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1962)
Jun
12
.png)
Belmondo and a white woman in a Cheongsam – both looking straight at us – awkwardly sit at a small round table in some sort of nightclub-ish establishment. There are cigarettes, an empty glass, and an ice bucket in front of her. DP: Nicolas Hayer.
– Silien
“Soyez réalistes, demandez l'impossible”
Grands soirs & petits matins [May Days] (William Klein, 1978)
May
24
1968
Sorbonne students discussing the political situation with an elderly Parisian man. DPs: William Klein & Bernard Lutic.
– May 68 slogan
“Hélène Picard, born in Lyon, May 20, 1943. A child in care, she is reported as a runaway, a thief and unstable.”
La Femme Bourreau [A Woman Kills] (Jean-Denis Bonan, 1968)
May
20
1943
A dark-haired woman lounging on a bed. DP: Gérard de Battista.
Beaubourg, centre d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou [Beaubourg] (Roberto Rossellini, 1977)
Jan
31
1977
Rossellini on site. DPs: Néstor Almendros, Jean Chiabaut & Emmanuel Machuel.
“Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.”
Soleil Ô [Oh, Sun] (Med Hondo, 1970)
Dec
10
Human Rights Day
.jpg)
An optimistic Robert Liensol in the city of lights (via). DPs: François Catonné & Jean-Claude Rahaga.
Celebrating human rights on Human Rights Day: the right to work
– Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations General Assembly
A Mauritanian immigrant (Robert Liensol) too starts anew in Paris. But first, he'll need a job.
Petit à petit [Little by Little] (Jean Rouch, 1970)
Sep
3
Skyscraper Day
Damouré (Damouré Zika) measures a Parisian with craniology callipers. No skyscraper in this still, but there's scaffolding. DP: Jean Rouch.
A skyscraper for Skyscraper Day (USA)
In the sequel to Rouch's Jaguar (1967), Damouré wants a high rise for his Niger business with “as many floors as he has wives”. He decides to travel to Paris to learn about the construction of such building, and what made Paris to the Paris of today. While there, he gets distracted by the peculiarities of the French natives. Worried about Damouré's increasingly puzzling postcards, his company sends out Lam (Lam Ibrahim Dia) to bring him home.