Léon Pierre Guillaume Moussinac (; 19 January 1890 – 10 March 1964) was a French writer, film and art critic, film historian and film theorist.

Life and career

Moussinac was born in the family of a railroad station master. He studied law and had to leave his home with his family after his father's death in 1907. Settling in Paris, he studied at the Faculty of Law at the Lyceum of Charlemagne, where he met

Louis Delluc Louis Delluc (; 14 October 1890 – 22 March 1924) was an Impressionist French film director, screenwriter and film critic. Biography Delluc was born in Cadouin in 1890. His family moved to Paris in 1903. After graduating from the university, ...

, who had a significant influence on Mussinac, attracting him to poetry, theater, interested in painting and modern literature. During his studies, he began to write poetry, plays, romantic dramas, and was also engaged in journalism. In 1914 he drafted in to the French Army and served there until 1918. In 1919, Moussinac wrote his first review article for ''Le Film'' which was directed by his friend Delluc. Soon he became a known film critic in France and started to write articles for ''

Mercure de France The () was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was publis ...

'' and later for the newspaper ''

L'Humanité (; ) is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organisation of the SFIO, ''de facto'', and thereafter of the French Communist Party (PCF), and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, would not exist." History ...

'', which was the organ of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

, editing a weekly column called weekly column "Cinema". Moussinac joined the Communist Party in the same year. Mussinac actively fought for the promotion of Soviet cinema in France. It was because of him that the films of

Dziga Vertov Dziga Vertov (born David Abelevich Kaufman; – 12 February 1954) was a Soviet pioneer documentary film and newsreel director, as well as a cinema theorist. His filming practices and theories influenced the cinéma vérité style of documentary ...

and ''

Strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

'' by

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein; (11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is no ...

were shown at the 1925 Exhibition of Decorative Arts. He also organized a screening of the film ''

Battleship Potemkin '' Battleship Potemkin'' (, ), sometimes rendered as ''Battleship Potyomkin'', is a 1925 Soviet silent epic film produced by Mosfilm. Directed and co-written by Sergei Eisenstein, it presents a dramatization of the mutiny that occurred in 1905 ...

'' and founded the first in France mass cinema club "Friends of Spartacus", which was engaged in the propaganda of Soviet cinema. In 1927, Mussinac visited the Soviet Union, after which he wrote the book ''Le cinéma soviétique'' (Soviet cinema) in 1928. In 1930 along with

Paul Vaillant-Couturier Paul Vaillant-Couturier (; 8 January 1892 – 10 October 1937) was a French writer and communist. He participated in the founding of the French Communist Party (PCF) in 1920. Biography Born into a family of actors, Vaillant-Couturier studied la ...

and

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

, Moussinac founded the Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires (AEAR) created in France, at the head of it which also appeared Charles Vildrac and

Francis Jourdain Francis Jourdain (2 November 1876 – 31 December 1958) was a French painter, furniture maker, interior designer, maker of ceramics, and other decorative arts, and a left-wing political activist. Early years Francis Jourdain was born on 2 Nove ...

. Under the implied authority of the French Communist Party, the goal of association, and its organ ''Commune,'' was to bring together the various cultural currents which, in France, are concerned at the time the relationship between the revolutionary commitment, art and culture. After the occupation of France and the coming to power of

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Bénoni Omer Joseph Pétain (; 24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), better known as Marshal Pétain (, ), was a French marshal who commanded the French Army in World War I and later became the head of the Collaboration with Nazi Ger ...

, Mussinac was arrested for "communist propaganda". After he was released he was forced to hide for a long time in the south of the country, wanted by the French police. Eventually he became a member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

. After World War II, he directed film studies at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. From 1947 to 1949 he was rector of the

Institut des hautes études cinématographiques The Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC; "Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies") is a French film school, founded during World War II under the leadership of Marcel L'Herbier who was its president from 1944 to 1969. ID ...

(IDHEC). Leon Mussinac died of a heart attack on 10 March 1964 and is buried in the

Père Lachaise cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

near the Wall of the Communards.

Works

Fiction

* ''La Tête la premièr'', novel * ''Dernière heure'', Ed. Librairie de France, 1923, poem * ''Manifestation interdite'', Éditions Sociales Internationales, 1935, novel *''Le Radeau de la Méduse'', Paris, Éditions Hier et aujourd'hui, 1945 *''Aubes clandestines'', recueil de poèmes, 1945

Non-fiction

* ''Nouvelles Tendances du théâtre'', 1931 * ''Traité de la mise en scène'', Massin et Cie, 1948 * ''Le théâtre des origines à nos jours'', Amiot-Dumont, 1957 *''Naissance du cinéma'', Paris, Éd. J. Povolozky, 1925, et Éditions d’Aujourd’hui, 1983 *''S.M. Eisenstein'', Seghers, 1963 *''L'Âge ingrat du cinéma'', Éditions du Sagittaire, 1946; Éditeurs français réunis, 1967, préface de Georges Sadoul

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moussinac, Leon 1890 births 1964 deaths French film critics Film theorists 20th-century French writers 20th-century French poets 20th-century French journalists French Communist Party politicians Communist members of the French Resistance Film historians Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery