Jean-Michel Humeau

A graduate of IDHEC, Jean-Michel Humeau made two documentary films in the 1960s: Brigadier Mikono, an explosive chronicle of the events of May 68 in the Latin Quarter, produced as part of the Atelier de Recherche Cinématographique, and Hé viva Dada, devoted to the happenings presented at the Festival de la Libre Expression in 1966. He went on to work as director of photography on some sixty films, many of which won awards at numerous festivals (Cannes, Fespaco, Prix Jean Vigo): Kabala by Hassan Kouyaté, Sucre Amer by Christian Lara, L’enfant lion by Patrick Grandperret, Yeelen by Souleymane Cissé, Chine ma douleur by Dai Stitge or Les Lip, l’imagination au pouvoir by Christian Rouaud or around the revolutionary Douglas Bravo. Jean-Michel Humeau teaches at FEMIS and the Louis Lumière School.

Hé ! Viva Dada

by Jean-Michel Humeau (1965, 39min)

Beautifully filmed by Jean-Michel Humeau, “Hé! Viva Dada” is a report on the second Festival de la libre expression, a “laboratory of sensations” organized by Jean-Jacques Lebel at the Centre américain des Artistes, boulevard Raspail, in May 1965.
Happenings and pieces by Fernando Arrabal, Roland Topor, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jean-Jacques Lebel, Jocelyn de Noblet, Ben, Charlotte Moorman and others.

“From happening to pantomime, every form of total art has been tried and tested. (…) we felt that these documents were proof of our generation’s desire to do away with taboos, false pretenses and the poo-poo of our society. We felt that the testimony of poet Allen Ginsberg was necessary to shed light on this approach, which is close to that of Artaud or Michaux, and which, through this mess, this shattering of moral structures, aims at total art for a renewal of man.” (excerpt)

Mikono

by Jean-Michel Humeau (1968, 11min)

“An imaginary portrait of a CRS, Brigadier Mikono. Images of the clashes in the Latin Quarter in May 1968 and a commentary that derides the forces of order make this film a success of subversion and irony.”