‘Histoires du cinéma’ was originally released on November 12th 1999. Histoire(s) du cinéma – as TV series/video essay was made for Canal +, ARTE and Gaumont, from 1988 to 1998. For American movie critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, Godard´s video series represents the culmination of 20th century filmmaking and is a work of “enourmous importance”, just as “Finnegan´s Wake, the art work to which ‘Histoire(s) du cinéma’ seems most comparable.”
The series was shown aspart of an installation at Documenta X, the interdisciplinary arts festival inKassel, Germany, in 1997. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has screened each episode as it has become available.
The complete soundtrack of Godard´s magnus opum emphasizes once more the filmmaker´s sensitivity to sound. A vast multi-layered composition, it also incorporates the music of Giya Kancheli, Arvo Pärt, Hindemith, Gesualdo, Dino Saluzzi and Meredith Monk and the voices of André Malraux, Ezra Pound, Paul Celan and others.
Listen here: link.
Jean-Luc Godard will celebrate his 90th Birthday on December 3.