Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque

For forty years, Henri Langlois presided over the Cinemathques Francaise with absolute commitment and unwavering passion. Beginning in 1936, Langlois' beg, borrow and steal hustling preserved the priceless treasures of an art form then still too new to be recognized as such. Through as hoc screenings in Paris apartments, hallways and stairwells, the young Langlois shared his love for film art with the enthusiasm of an aesthetic epicure and the discerning appetite of a film gourmand. Under Nazi occupation, Langlois went underground, rescuing and secretly screening banned films under the noses of the SS. Through the halcyon 60's Langlois battled bureaucrats, championed auteur and ushered in a new golden age of cinema where "life broke through the screen" and filmmaking and film-going merged into a single discipline.