Directing
Noël Burch
Born January 22, 1932 · San Francisco, California, USA (age 94)
Noël Burch (born 1932) is an American film theorist and movie maker who moved to France at a young age. Burch is known for his contribution to terms commonly used by film scholars (such as institutional mode of representation (IMR)) and for his theories compiled in books such as Theory of Film Practice or La lucarne de L'Infini.
Known For
Le Bel Âge · 1960Le Bel Âge
★ 5.61960
MovieComedyDrama
Steph, Jean-Claude and Jacques work in a Parisian art shop, but they mainly work in the field of eroticism, which they conceive as a wide-ranging field of exercises and experiments.
Marie et le Curé · 1967Marie et le Curé
★ 10.01967
MovieDrama
A priest succumbs to the charms of his lovely cleaning lady and decides to find a husband when she finds herself pregnant with her works.
Correction, Please: or, How We Got into the Pictures · 1979Correction, Please: or, How We Got into the Pictures
★ 5.01979
Movie
Experimental essay in film history, associating very early archive material (circa 1909) and studio shot footage in an attempt to provide insights into the way in which "film language" developed during the silent era, with emphasis on the process by which spectators came to be increasingly "contained" with the space time of narrative.
Exterior Night · 1980Exterior Night
★ 5.11980
MovieComedyDrama
Hoping to make a fresh start, Léo, a jazz musician, takes up temporary residence with his friend Bony, a young writer who is struggling to get his work published. One evening, Léo strikes up an acquaintance with a woman taxi driver, Cora; in spite of her impulsive and moody temperament, he cannot help being attracted to her. On the spur of the moment, Cora invites Léo to make love to her. When Bony meets Cora, he too finds her irresistible, but he lacks Léo’s self-confidence to make his move. Cora is not a woman that any man can possess readily. She is like a wild animal, a creature that revels in its freedom. Will either Léo or Bony be able to tame her...?
Aller simple (Tres historias del Río de la Plata) · 1998Aller simple (Tres historias del Río de la Plata)
★ 8.01998
MovieDocumentary
An impressive reconstruction of time through archival materials, it explores through three characters the fate of 6 million immigrants who made our River Plate the most European region in all of Latin America. The three characters are fictional but their stories are real. From this collective adventure is a trace, a trace: it is the record of the photographers and filmmakers who documented the immigration process.
Rome Is Burning: Portrait of Shirley Clarke · 1970Rome Is Burning: Portrait of Shirley Clarke
★ 7.51970
MovieDocumentary
Documentary about filmmaker Shirley Clarke which originally aired on the French television series “Cinéastes de notre temps”.
Recreation · 1956Recreation
★ 5.21956
MovieAnimation
Featuring a commentary by Noël Burch (in nonsense French), Recreation's rapid-fire montage of single-frame images of incredible density and intensity has been compared to contemporary Beat poetry.
What Do Those Old Films Mean? · 1986What Do Those Old Films Mean?
★ 7.01986
MovieTV MovieDocumentary
Noel Burch’s fascinating and well-made (if at times historically contestable) six-part BBC television series, about early silent cinema in Denmark, England, the Soviet Union, France, Germany, and the U.S., mixes beautiful clips of rare films with various social theories about their significance.



