PIERRE RISSIENT: MAN OF CINEMA Documentary Showcase

For the past 50 years, in the world of film, Pierre Rissient has operated behind the scenes as powerfully as any mythic cardinal in a 19th-century novel-either launching the careers of countless great filmmakers, or giving their work a vital, expertly-timed when most needed. Clint Eastwood, John Boorman , Sydney Pollack, Werner Herzog, Jane Campion, Abbas Kiarostami and many, many, many others have benefited from his interventions , and each repays the generosity in this tossed salad of lively interviews , film history and personal biography brought off with entertaining flair director Todd McCarthy. Abundant clips and stills, well edited James Taylor, detail Rissient’s rise as a critic, theater program assistant director to Jean-Luc Godard on BREATHLESS, and eventually (however briefly) a critically acclaimed director himself But it is as a gallant champion of other filmmakers that Pierre Rissient has made his most lasting mark on the world. “It’s not enough to like a film,” he would proudly repeat when energetically lobbying this or that person of influence. “You must like for the right reasons.”