The Detours of Robert Frank

  • France
  • 1993
  • fr
  • en
  • 15'

In the early 1990s, Robert Frank confides his reluctance to photograph. He has made around twenty films already, and sees video as a tool, an extraordinary notebook.. At the Cinémathèque Française (then still at the Palais de Chaillot), he presents his great films. A chance to peek behind the curtain of his creation and evoke his poetic, experimental quest.

The Detours of Robert Frank
Watch the trailer

Synopsis

In the early 1990s, Robert Frank confides his reluctance to photograph. He has made around twenty films already, and sees video as a tool, an extraordinary notebook.. At the Cinémathèque Française (then still at the Palais de Chaillot), he presents his great films. A chance to peek behind the curtain of his creation and evoke his poetic, experimental quest.

What you will learn in this film…

Robert Frank's take on his photography in the early 1990s • His taste for filmmaking • Excerpts from his great films • The influence of photography in his films • The life he detects in photography • The personalities of his entourage as a starting point for his films • The importance of the video tool to his film-making • His need to always seek something new • The good fortune to live in New York

I always try to do something new.

Film chapters

summary00:00 No more photos

summary02:10 First film “Pull My Daisy”

summary05:42 Video for learning

summary10:50 Getting away from New York

Access all the films, articles and
resources in our collection.

Behind the scenes of photography!

Discover the world of photography through a selection of reference documentaries, original creations, unpublished articles and exclusive interviews.

A unique film collection…

The Darkroom Rumour  is a collection of films and video works that invites you to discover an art that has become a daily practice. It is a new kind of video library designed to inspire and to cultivate its practice and its photographic world.

New films and new articles are added every month.

Articles and interviews relating to the films

The Darkroom Rumour  introduces films, identifies content, proposes themes and focus, links and references, so that you spend more time watching films than choosing them…

Accessible on all your devices, whenever you like

The Darkroom Rumour  is available anytime, via streaming, anywhere in the world, on your connected TV, computer, tablet and mobile.

Accessible on all your devices, whenever you like
Sign up

Linked Articles

Further exploration

Bibliography

Selective filmography

Instagram

• THE AMERICANS - artist: Robert Frank ; introduction: Jack Kerouac ; 1959 ; Grove Press

• THE LINES OF MY HAND - artist: Robert Frank ; 1972 ; Lustrum Press

• MOVING OUT - artist: Robert Frank ; 1995 ; Scalo 

• LONDON / WALES - artist: Robert Frank ; author: Philip Brookman ; 2007 ; Steidl Verlag 

• PARIS - artist: Robert Frank ; 2008 ; Steidl Verlag 

• PERU - artist: Robert Frank ; 2008 ; Steidl Verlag 

• VALENCIA - artist: Robert Frank ; 2012 ; Steidl Verlag 

• IN AMERICA - artist: Robert Frank ; 2014 ; Steidl Verlag 

• HOLD STILL - KEEP GOING - artist: Robert Frank ; author: Christophe Ribbat ; 2016 ; Steidl Verlag 

• ROBERT FRANK: GOOD DAYS QUIET - 2019 ; Steidl 

• ROBERT FRANK: BOOKS AND FILMS, 1947-2019 - author: Gerhard Steidl ; 2020 ; Steidl Verlag

• PULL MY DAISY (1959)

• ME & MY BROTHER (1965-1968)

• CONVERSATIONS IN VERMONT (1969)

• COCKSUCKER BLUES (1972)

• LIFE DANCES ON (1980)

• HOME IMPROVEMENTS (1985)

• TRUE STORY (2004)

• TUNNEL (2005)