A nice surprise in the mail from The Film Desk: their first book, François Truffaut by Lillian Ross, from The New Yorker 1960-1970. Up until now, The Film Desk has been known for reissuing mainly classic films on 35mm, like Philippe Garrel's J'entends plus la guitare, Robert Bresson's The Devil, Probably, Jacques Rivette's Le Pont du Nord and many more, including four Truffaut titles (Small Change, The Bride Wore Black, Mississippi Mermaid and L'enfant sauvage). The Film Desk is run by Jake Perlin, who has amassed a small treasure of a library, making these films available to repertory theaters in their original theatrical format. This new publication clearly fits well with his catalog.
The 40-page book contains five short profiles written by Lillian Ross from 1960-1976. She shares that The New Yorker has asked her to chat with Truffaut every five years or so, starting with their first meeting in 1960. It's Truffaut's first time in the United States where he is accepting an award for The 400 Blows. Each encounter follows the blossoming progression of not only Truffaut's career (with ideas about what films he wants to make next, some of which are realized and some not) but also his personal life, from updates about his daughters Laura and Eva, to his problems with finding properly-fitting footwear.
You can purchase the book for $10 ppd in the US from The Film Desk. I'm told this is the first in what will hopefully be a series. The Film Desk's current release is Alain Resnais's 1968 science fiction-tinged mindbender Je t'aime, je t'aime, screening this Saturday 5/31 at International House Philadelphia and touring the country. Jake Perlin also runs Cinema Conservancy, who have put together a program of restored shorts by animators John and Faith Hubley, touring in celebration of the John Hubley Centennial.
