“I demand that a film express either the joy of making cinema or the agony of making cinema.”
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François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. Widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave, he came under the tutelage of film critic André Bazin as a young man and was hired to write for the latter's Cahiers du Cinéma, where Truffaut became a proponent of the auteur theory, which posits that a film's director is its true author.
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entertainment · French filmmaker (1932–1984) · film director · film producer · film critic · actor · director · film screenwriter · producer · film actor · also François Truffaut, Francois Truffaut, Truffaut
Born 6 February 1932 · Died 21 October 1984 · Q53002
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2026· 4 entries
Public attention spiked: 3,790 Wikipedia readers in one day, 4.9× the usual 779, with 0 article edits.
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Public attention spiked: 4,075 Wikipedia readers in one day, 5.2× the usual 779, with 0 article edits.
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Yahoo: François Truffaut's daughter invites audiences inside his films - and her childhood
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2025· 1 entry
Wall Street Journal: ‘The Adventures of Antoine Doinel’: François Truffaut’s Alter-Ego Grows Up
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2022· 3 entries
The Guardian: Some of François Truffaut’s new wave films are still coming of age | Rachel Cooke
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The Guardian: François Truffaut’s 20 best films – ranked
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The Guardian: The 400 Blows review – François Truffaut’s coming-of-age masterwork
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2021· 1 entry
The Guardian: The Last Metro: theatre is a sanctuary in François Truffaut's wartime gem
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2020· 2 entries
Yahoo: François Truffaut’s ‘Bonnie and Clyde’: How the French New Wave Legend Nearly Directed the Iconic Film
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IndieWire: How François Truffaut Nearly Directed 'Bonnie and Clyde'
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2018· 1 entry
The Guardian: François Truffaut: Jules et Jim
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2016· 2 entries
Moviefone: François Truffaut: Stolen Portraits
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JSTOR Daily: François Truffaut: The Lost Secret
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2014· 1 entry
The New Yorker: François Truffaut, Liberal Filmmaker
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2012· 1 entry
The New Yorker: François Truffaut: All in the Family
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1984· 2 entries
Died 1984-10-21.
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“I find that violence is very ambiguous in movies. For example, some films claim to be antiwar, but I don't think I've really seen an antiwar film. Every film about war ends up being pro-war.”
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1981· 4 entries
Awarded César Award for Best Film for The Last Metro (1981).
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Awarded César Award for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation for The Last Metro (1981).
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Awarded David di Donatello Luchino Visconti (1981).
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Awarded César Award for Best Director for The Last Metro (1981).
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1975· 2 entries
Awarded National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film for The Story of Adele H. (1975).
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Truffaut gained more notoriety with The Story of Adèle H
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1974· 2 entries
Awarded BAFTA Award for Best Direction for Day for Night (1974).
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Awarded BAFTA Award for Best Film for Day for Night (1974).
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1973· 4 entries
Awarded National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director for Day for Night (1973).
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Awarded New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director for Day for Night (1973).
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Awarded New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film for Day for Night (1973).
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Godard wrote Truffaut a lengthy and raucous private letter peppered with accusations and insinuations, several times stating that as a filmmaker "you're a liar" and that his latest film (Day for Night) had been unsatisfy
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1970· 2 entries
Awarded National Board of Review Award for Best Director for The Wild Child (1970).
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Awarded National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film for The Wild Child (1970).
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1968· 4 entries
Awarded Louis Delluc Prize for Stolen Kisses (1968).
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Revealed that its inquiry into the matter led to a Roland Levy, a Jewish dentist from Bayonne
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Became engaged to leading actress Claude Jade from three of his films, and lived together with Fanny Ardant, actress in his two last films, until his death
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Truffaut was engaged to actress Claude Jade
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1966· 2 entries
“s 1957 marriage to Madeleine Morgenstern ended in divorce. He is survived by two adult daughters from that marriage, Laura Truffaut-Wong of San Francisco and Eva Truffaut of Paris, and by a 13- month-old daughter, Josephine. She lives in Paris with her mother, the actress Fanny Ardant, who starred in his 1981 film”
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Truffaut published his book-length interview with Hitchcock, Hitchcock/Truffaut
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1964· 1 entry
Awarded Bodil Award for Best Non-American Film for The Soft Skin (1964).
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1963· 1 entry
Truffaut was approached to direct Bonnie and Clyde, with a treatment written by Esquire journalists David Newman and Robert Benton intended to introduce the French New Wave to Hollywood
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1962· 1 entry
Awarded Bodil Award for Best Non-American Film for Jules and Jim (1962).
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1959· 2 entries
Awarded Cannes Best Director Award for The 400 Blows (1959).
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Awarded Bodil Award for Best Non-American Film for The 400 Blows (1959).
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1954· 2 entries
Truffaut wrote an article in Cahiers du cinéma, "Une Certaine Tendance du Cinéma Français" ("A Certain Trend of French Cinema"), in which he attacked the state of French films, lambasting certain screenwriters and produc
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“Une Certaine Tendance du Cinéma Français”
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1950· 1 entry
Aged 18, but spent the next two years trying to escape
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1948· 1 entry
Truffaut met André Bazin, who had a great effect on his professional and personal life
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1932· 1 entry
Born 1932-02-06.
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