'JEAN ROUCH (1917-2004) was a French filmmaker originally trained as an engineer. During World War II, he went to colonial French West Africa to build roads. He became more and more interested in the culture of the indigenous people he met there, and after returning to Paris, decided to abandon engineering and study ethnography and filmmaking.'

He's an expert of visual anthropology. "many of his films blurred the line between fiction and documentary, creating a new style: ethnofiction." also presented as 'Cinéma Vérité'.

Jean Rouch is hailed as a pioneer and legend of the french new wave in filmmaking.

Many of the stories and visuals of Rouch had one thing in common, Africa. Indeed, the filmmaker created many of his work through the observation of African people. Especially in french West Africa, through countries such as Niger and Côte d'Ivoire. Though, his work was centered on African people, many African filmmakers rejected Rouch's and others' ethnographic films produced in the colonial era for distorting reality. Nevertheless, his visual work remain an important heritage of storytelling and filmmaking.