Author Sally Shafto

Is an indistinct photograph a picture of a person at all? Is it even always an advantage to replace an indistinct picture by a sharp one? Isn’t the indistinct one often exactly what we need? – Ludwig Wittge...

True to its title, the recently published Writings (New York: Sequence Press, 2016) by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet contains only a handful of the filmmakers’ interviews. It’s clear, though, that their...

It is often said that a film set is like a military campaign. Another analogy would be that of a professional kitchen (itself based on the military model), which after the eminent French chef Auguste Escoffier,...

Nowadays there are no more traditional storytellers. I think that a filmmaker can replace them. To be properly heard, a storyteller needs to know how to strike with his instruments, whether the tam-tam or a cam...

Since so many academic books go unnoticed, it was initially a pleasure to see Dimitrios Latsis’ recent review of Angela dalle Vacche’s edited anthology, Film, Art, New Media: Museum without Walls (Palgrave Macm...

Very few countries, even in Europe, have a national film festival. It’s a masterstroke on the part of the government to have created and developed the FNF. – Salvatore Leocata, Director of the Festival indepen...

“An African film is a miracle, like the rain.” – Youssef Ait Hamou “’No wind is favorable to a sailor who does not know what port he is headed for.’” – Seneca, quoted by Nour-Eddine Saïl I first heard of Kh...

“Ideas are on the street.” –Abu Othman Amro bnu Bahr al-Jahed (776 - 869) “The cinema is there to mend wounded souls.” – Egyptian filmmaker, Yousry Nasrallah “There is no better prospective project for a ...

Organised by L'AMREC (Association marocaine de recherche et d'échanges culturels), (1) the 5th annual National Festival of Amazigh Film was held 15-18 December, 2010 at the Palais des Congrès in Ouarzazate. The...

“We are conscious of cinema’s role in society.” – Nour-Eddine Saïl, Director of the Centre Cinématographique Marocain Tangier: the city that inspired and attracted so many artists, writers and bohemians, call...

Student of philosophy, traveller, actress maudit and filmmaker, Marie-Christine Questerbert, who appeared in Moullet’s Une Aventure de Billy le Kid (1971) and Anatomy of a Relationship (1975), discusses her life and career, and the travails of working with one of France’s more eccentric directors.

Sally Shafto’s introduction sets the context for the transcript to the Straub’s film that follows.