Jacques Becker retrospective

San Sebastian to honour French director

by Amber Wilkinson

A retrospective at San Sebastian Film Festival will show all 13 of Jacques Becker's features.
A retrospective at San Sebastian Film Festival will show all 13 of Jacques Becker's features. Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival
San Sebastian Film Festival has announced that it will dedicate a retrospective to French filmmaker Jacques Becker.

The Parisian-born director, who was born in 1906, only made 13 features - from his first Dernier Atout, in 1942, to his final film The Hole (Le Trou), released in 1960, the month after he died.

Born into money, he considered himself a Communist and trained in the cinema of the Popular Front, working as Jean Renoir's assistant on films including The Grand Illusion, Madame Bovary and The Marseillaise.

His work includes Casque d’Or, Edward and Caroline (Édouard et Caroline) and Hands Off The Loot (Touchez pas au grisbi) and he was a key name in the evolution of French Cinema. The Cahiers du cinéma critics saw in him the modernity that they themselves would put into practice in the Nouvelle vague.

The retrospective will include all of Becker’s feature films and will run throughout the 64th festival from September 16-24.

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