Amis Américains – 1ere Ed Entretiens avec les grands auteurs d’Hollywood

Icon Icon Opinion : 

28 American authors who have left their mark on the great history of cinema are revealed here through the expert and very precise eye of a sacred monster of French cinema. This book offers a vision of the cinema through the prism of an international cinema giant, Bertrand Tavernier – a book that is all the more necessary to grasp the evolution of the 7th art, by those who make it!

Author: Bertrand Tavernier

Publishing House: Actes Sud

Publication Date: 8 October 2019

Description : “It is an understatement to say that this book places the work of a film historian on a level that is rarely encountered. The research done over five decades is considerable.”

Le Monde, December 2008.

Hailed by critics, cinephiles and film enthusiasts alike, Bertrand Tavernier’s monumental book has been a dazzling success, as much for the density of its content as for the fervor with which Tavernier talks to these mythical, forgotten, adored or blacklisted American filmmakers. Reissued with new interviews in 2008, it is now available in a new paperback edition, with a preface by the continuation of the interviews between Bertrand Tavernier and Thierry Frémaux, who is the editor of this book.

A passionate exploration into the very heart of creation, but also a reflection of a way of living cinephilia, American Friends is a scrapbook that offers a meticulous and fragmented autopsy of American cinema from 1945 to the present day, and an assessment of Tavernier’s cinephile years. “Being a press agent was a way to continue a job as a critic and film historian. We only chose films we liked.”

With more than 400 photos, American Friends includes interviews conducted for various magazines by Bertrand Tavernier, a logbook of the critic and press officer that he was. Fruitful exchanges with some of Hollywood’s greats: John Ford, for a last trip to Paris, William Wellman, Budd Boetticher, John Huston, Jacques Tourneur, John Berry, Elia Kazan, Robert Altman… but also abundant and fascinating dialogues with the great American filmmakers of today: Quentin Tarantino, Joe Dante or Alexander Payne