Friends, Fools, Family.
Jean Rouch's Collaborators in Niger

Worldwide, Jean Rouch is known to many as French anthropologist and innovative filmmaker. Much of his work is linked to the birth of cinéma vérité. However, Rouch's 50 year involvement with a particular group of people in Niger shines a more personal light on his work - one of friendship and collaboration. Together with this group, Rouch has made numerous ethnographic films and upon his sudden death in 2004 they had yet another film in the works. A year prior to Rouch's death two Danish filmmakers went to Niger to make a film with his friends. Their film was going to be a survey of the collaborative methods of Rouch and his friends. It soon became obvious that the story about this unique collaboration is also one about about fate, race and cross-cultural relations, as well as friendship and commitment. The film became an exploration of a relationship that changed their lives.

Berit Madsen and Anne Mette Jørgensen

Berit Madsen is a social anthropologist and documentary filmmaker from Denmark. Born 1964. Films: Next Year Will Be Happy: Tibetan New Year in Exile (in production); I Live in the White Monastery (Nepal, 17 min., 2003); My Father's Prayer Room (Nepal, 8½ min., 2003); The Day of 100.000 Butterlamps (Nepal, 11 min., 2003); Ten Million Good Deeds. Düchen at the big Stupa in Kathmandu (Nepal, 26 min., 2003); Difference in People. The Caste System in Nepal (Nepal, 23 min, 2002); Why Dalit? (Nepal, 29 min., 2001); We Have the Same Kind of Blood (Nepal, 41 min., 2001); The Last Working Season of Mr. Madsen (Denmark, 58 min., 2000); A La Moscowa (France, 21 min., 1991 - first prize at the Festival du Film et Grand Reportage, Lagne-Sur-Marne, Paris, 1992). Fieldwork in the Caribben and Nepal.

Anne Mette Jørgensen is a social anthropologist and filmmaker from Denmark. Born 1969. Fieldwork in Ghana. Thesis on Jean Rouch and his Ethnographic Dialogues. Films: Moshe’s New Year. The Creation of a Tradition (Denmark, 1998. 28 min.); U Sampieru Corsu (France, 1995. 12 min.). Editor of Under the Same Roof (Denmark, 1997. 40 min.).