Cahiers du Cinéma was the single most influential project in the history of film. Founded in 1951, it was responsible for establishing film as the “seventh art,” equal to literature, painting or music, and it revolutionized film-making and writing. Its contributors would put their words into action: the likes of Godard, Truffaut, Rivette, Rohmer were to become some of the greatest directors of the age, their films part of the internationally celebrated Nouvelle Vague.

In this rich, authoritative new history, Emilie Bickerton explores the evolution and impact of Cahiers du Cinéma, from its early years, to its late-sixties radicalization, its internationalization, and its response to the television age of the seventies and eighties. Showing how the story of Cahiers continues to resonate with critics, practitioners and the film-going public, A Short History of Cahiers du Cinéma is a testimony to the extraordinary legacy and archive these “collected pages of a notebook” have provided for the world of cinema.

This is not a gossip filled book on one of the most important film periodicals out there in any language. Cahier du Cinema used to be the most important film magazine in the world. Many a film director or script writer started their career writing for Cahier du Cinema. Now it is  one of many other film magazines. During its apogee the editorship was under master film theorists such as Andre Bazin, Eric Romer and Jacques Rivette.
Cahiers du Cinema nevertheless is still a symbol of when cinema was setting the trends and held a very special place in society.

Emile Bickerton writes in a clear and fearless manner.

Emilie Bickerton is Assistant Editor at New Left Review. She writes on film, literature and anthropology for a variety of UK and US publications. She lives in London.

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