1. Georges Franju served briefly in the military in Algeria and was discharged in 1932.
16 Facts About Georges Franju
1. 2.
Georges Franju ceased to be closely related with the Cinematheque Francaise as early as 1938, and only became associated with it strongly again in the 1980s when he was appointed as the honorary artistic director of the Cinematheque.
3.
In 1949, Georges Franju began work on a series of nine documentary films.
4.
Georges Franju's first documentary, The Blood of Beasts was a graphic film of a day inside a Paris slaughterhouse.
5.
The film was commissioned as a celebration of the modernization of the French industry, but Georges Franju's film showed his view of the ugliness spewing forth from monstrous factories.
6.
Georges Franju's third film commissioned by the French government, Hotel des Invalides, was a look at life inside a veterans' hospital.
7.
The film was commissioned as a tribute to the hospital and the War Museum, but Georges Franju turned it into a film against the glorification of militarism.
8.
Georges Franju later said that Hotel des Invalides was his favorite of his three "slaughter" films.
9.
Georges Franju's 1963 film Judex was a tribute to the silent film serials Judex and Fantomas.
10.
Georges Franju occasionally directed for television and in the late seventies he retired from filmmaking to preside over the Cinematheque Francaise.
11.
Georges Franju's focus was on the visual aspect of filmmaking, which he claimed marked a director as an auteur.
12.
Georges Franju claimed to "not have the story writing gift" and was focused on what he described as the "putting into form" of the film.
13.
Georges Franju used elements of surrealism and shock horror within his films in order to "awaken" his audience.
14.
Georges Franju had a long history of friendship with well-known surrealists including Andre Breton, and the influence of this movement is extremely evident in his works.
15.
Georges Franju uses these elements to link horror, history, and an ironic commentary on modernity's ideal of progress.
16.
The opening sequence of the film presents the modern age as a "dream land" in which there is a need for some sort of awakening; Georges Franju's awakening comes through historical knowledge.