Jean Rouch and DER

We at DER (Documentary Educational Resources) have had a wonderful, collaborative relationship with Jean Rouch that has extended over the past 40 years. John Marshall, Past-President and Founder of DER, and Jean were dear friends and colleagues. John and Jean worked together creating films and participating in many ethnographic film conferences. In 1978 Jean and John created the film, Margaret Mead: A Portrait by a Friend. With Jean on camera and John on sound, they produced a tender and humorous portrait of anthropologist Margaret Mead while Jean was a guest of the first Margaret Mead Film Festival.

DER continues to support Jean's work through the distribution of films by Rouch and about Rouch. DER is the major source of films by Jean Rouch in North America, including Les Maitres Fous, The Lion Hunters and Jaguar. Films about Rouch include: Philo Bregstein's Jean Rouch and His Camera in the Heart of Africa,Rouch's Gang by the Dutch production team MMProductions, the newly released Conversations With Jean Rouch by Ann McIntosh and Jean Rouch with Robert Gardner: in The Screening Room.

Our goal is to continue to acquire films by Jean Rouch and to provide access to his work to audiences around the world.

— Cynthia Close, DER


An Interview: John Marshall on Jean Rouch (2004)
Jean Rouch speaks with John Marshall and John W. Adams (1977)
Program of the first Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York (1977)