In this documentary narrated by Abel Gance and directed by his former assistant (and filmmaker) Nelly Kaplan, the great director reminisces about his career which started in the silent era. With ‘Mater Dolorosa’ (1917) and especially ‘La dixieme symphonie’(1918), ‘J’accuse’ (1919) and ‘La roue’ (1921-23), Gance became a leading member of the French avant-garde. His work was characterised by dramatic excess (La dixieme symphonie), formal inventiveness (La roue), and technical innovation (split screens, complex camera movements, experiments with sound), all trends which find their apotheosis in ‘Napoleon vu par Abel Gance’ (1927), a five hour epic comparable to Griffith’s ‘The birth of a nation’ (1915) in its combination of reactionary ideology and formal brilliance.” Reference: Ginette Vincendeau. The companion to French cinema. BFI Publishing, 1996.
Credits: Director, Nelly Kaplan ; music, Michel Magne.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
X001097
Language
English
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)