TECHNES Encyclopedia Database

From 1978 to 1983 Jean-Pierre Beauviala gave three major interviews to Cahiers du cinéma, each spread out over several consecutive issues:

1) “Les machines du cinéma,” in which Beauviala discusses his career as an engineer, the founding of Aaton and his various projects for inventions, as well as the technological changes shaking up cinema at the time (video and television first of all, but also Super 8);

Bibliography:

• Bergala, Alain; Henry, Jean-Jacques and Toubiana, Serge. “Entretien avec Jean-Pierre Beauviala: 1,” Cahiers du cinéma 285 (February 1978): 8-15.
• Bergala, Alain et al., “La sortie des usines Aaton: Entretien avec Jean-Pierre Beauviala. 2,” Cahiers du cinéma 286 (March 1978): 4-15.
• Bergala, Alain; Henry, Jean-Jacques and Toubiana, Serge. “Aux deux bouts de la chaîne: Entretien avec Jean-Pierre Beauviala. 3,” Cahiers du cinéma 287 (April 1978): 5-17.
• Bergala, Alain; Henry, Jean-Jacques and Toubiana, Serge. “Le maillon central: Entretien avec Jean-Pierre Beauviala. 4,” Cahiers du cinéma 288 (May 1978): 16-21.

2) “Genèse d’une caméra,” an animated discussion between Jean-Pierre Beauviala and Jean-Luc Godard in which each party explains his reasons justifying the development and, in the end, the abandonment of the Aaton 8-35. Alain Bergala and Serge Toubiana, moderating the discussion, are jointed in the second part of the interview by Romain Goupil (assistant to Jean-Luc Godard on Sauve qui peut (la vie)), Vincent Blanchet (filmmaker) and Renato Berta (director of photography, who used the 8-35 for the film L’homme blessé by Patrice Chéreau);

Bibliography:

• Godard, Jean-Luc; Beauviala, Jean-Pierre and Bergala, Alain. “Genèse d’une caméra: 1er épisode,” Cahiers du cinéma 348-49 (June-July 1983): 94-111.
• Beauviala, Jean-Pierre; Godard, Jean-Luc and Bergala, Alain. “Genèse d’une caméra: 2e épisode,” Cahiers du cinéma 350 (August 1983): 45-61.

3) “Cinéma, innovations techniques, recherche – Beauviala Story,” an interview carried out ten years after “Les machines du cinéma” and which was an opportunity for Jean-Pierre Beauviala to look back on the growth and operations of his business over that decade and on the technological progress – particularly with respect to editing – promised by computerization. Only two of the three parts of the interview appeared.

Bibliography:

• Bergala, Alain; Henry, Jean-Jacques and Niney, François. “Beauviala Story 1/3. Stratégie/Temps: Entretien avec Jean-Pierre Beauviala,” Cahiers du cinéma 409 (June 1988): 70-75.
• Bergala, Alain; Henry, Jean-Jacques and Niney, François. “Cinéma, innovations techniques, recherche – Beauviala Story 2/3. Fausses sorties des usines Aaton et entrées des artistes dans le montage virtuel: Entretien avec Jean-Pierre Beauviala,” Cahiers du cinéma 410 (July 1988): 53-62.

These three interviews, because they represent a particular moment in the editorial history of Cahiers du cinéma and expand on a range of common issues over a ten-year period, make up a coherent whole. Jean-Pierre Beauviala also appears in Cahiers du cinéma, less exhaustively and at later dates, in the following interviews:

Bibliography:

• Henry, Jean-Jacques. “Outils et formes: Entretien avec Jean-Pierre Beauviala,” Cahiers du cinéma 325 (June 1981): 91-95.
• Chauvin, Jean-Sébastien. “Changer de paradigme: Entretien avec Jean-Pierre Beauviala,” Cahiers du cinéma 719 (February 2019): 26-29.