Moussinac, Léon

(1890-1964)

   Film critic, historian, and theorist. A childhood friend of avant-garde filmmaker Louis Delluc, Léon Moussinac went on to become a significant film critic and film theorist. Known for his ties to the Communist Party, Moussinac was significant in introducing the French public to Russian film through his ciné-club, Les Amis de Spartacus, which he cofounded with his brother-in-law Jean Lods. Moussinac also introduced the French public to the writings of several Russian film theorists, most notably Sergei Eisenstein. Through his own writings in magazines and in his essays Naissance du cinéma (1925), Le Cinéma soviétique (1927), Panoramique du cinéma (1928), L'Âge ingrat du cinéma (1946), and Sergei Eisenstein (1963), he promoted a socially engaged cinema grounded in avant-garde poetics.

   Moussinac had originally intended to be a writer, but after service in World War I, he began to focus his attention on the cinema. In 1920, he founded the cinema section of the respected literary magazine Le Mercure de France and was the primary contributor to that section until 1928. In 1932, he also created a special cinema supplement to the left-leaning newspaper L'Humanité. He also founded his own film journal, Cinéa. After World War II, Moussinac became closely involved in the teaching of cinema through his involvement with various French film schools, including the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (IDHEC). He served as the director of IDHEC from 1947 until 1949. The Prix Léon-Moussinac, given annually to the best foreign film, is named for him.

   Historical Dictionary of French Cinema by Dayna Oscherwitz & Mary Ellen Higgins