Jean-Louis Comolli

Jean-Louis Comolli (30 July 1941 – 19 May 2022) was a French writer, editor, and film director.

Career
Comolli was editor in chief of Cahiers du cinéma from 1966 to 1978, during which period he wrote the influential essays "Machines of the Visible" (1971) and "Technique and Ideology: Camera, Perspective, Depth of Field" (1971–72), both of which have been translated in English anthologies of film and media studies. This work was important in the discussion on apparatus theory, an attempt to rethink cinema as a site for the production and maintenance of dominant state ideology in the wake of May 1968.

After his tenure at Cahiers, Comolli continued his work as a director and has since published numerous works on film theory, documentary, and jazz. He taught film theory at the Universities of Paris VIII, Barcelona, Strasburg and Genève.

In the spring of 2008, Comolli was invited to the Visions du réel documentary film festival in Nyon, Switzerland, where he developed his theory of documentary cinema.

Select filmography

 * 1968: Les deux Marseillaises (co-director: André S. Labarthe)
 * 1969: Comme je te veux
 * 1975: La Cecilia
 * 1981: L'Ombre rouge
 * 1983: Balles perdues
 * 1986: Le Bal d'Irène (TV)
 * 1987: Pétition (TV)
 * 1989: Marseille de père en fils - Coup de mistral
 * 1989: Marseille de père en fils - Ombres sur la ville
 * 1992: La Campagne de Provence
 * 1993: Marseille en mars
 * 1994: Jeune fille au livre
 * 1995: Georges Delerue (TV)
 * 1996: Marseille contre Marseille
 * 1997: Nos deux Marseillaises
 * 1997: La Question des alliances
 * 2000: Durruti, portrait d'un anarchiste
 * 2003: Rêves de France à Marseille
 * 2004: Les Esprits du Koniambo (TV)
 * 2005: Le Peintre, le poète et l'historien (TV)

Select bibliography

 * "Machines of the Visible." in Electronic Culture: Technology and Visual Representation, ed. Timothy Druckrey.  Aperture Press (1996 [1971]).
 * "Technique and Ideology: Camera, Perspective, Depth of Field.” in Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology: A Film Theory Reader, ed. Philip Rosen. Columbia University Press (1986 [1972]).