Jean Rouch documentary 'L'Enigma di Jean Rouch' airs on Sky Arte

The documentary 'L'Enigma di Jean Rouch a Torino. Cronaca di un film raté', directed by Marco di Castri, Paolo Favaro, and Daniele Pianciola, will air on Sky Arte HD on Friday, September 15. Previously presented at the 74th Venice International Film Festival in the Venezia Classici – Documentari section, the film explores the making of 'Enigma', a key work of cinéma vérité by Jean Rouch. It traces the two years between Rouch's arrival in Turin in 1984, after leaving the Niger River and the Dogon people, and the project's completion. The documentary combines testimonies and behind-the-scenes footage shot by di Castro, Pianciola, and Alberto Chiantaretto, who as young filmmakers invited Rouch to create a 'dionysian' film in Turin. The feature also spawned 'L'Occhio, La Macchina, La Città', a series of cinéma vérité lessons by Rouch involving ten Turin-based videomakers under 30, including future directors Mimmo Calopresti, Alberto Signetto, Tina Castrovilli, and Stefano Tealdi. Intellectual figures like Primo Levi and Oddone Camerana contributed to 'Enigma', describing Turin as aspiring to become a 'laboratory of ideas'.