Henri Cartier-Bresson

Directing

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Born — Died

1908-08-22 — 2004-08-03

Place of birth

Chanteloup-en-Brie, France

Known for

Directing

Credits

24 titles

Henri Cartier-Bresson (22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French artist and humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as capturing a decisive moment.

Known for

Omnibus poster
7.2

Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.

Omnibus

1967

Monitor poster
7.3

Monitor was a BBC arts programme that was launched on 2 February 1958 and ran until 1965. Huw Wheldon was the first editor from 1958 to 1965. He was also the principal interviewer and anchor. Wheldon set about moulding a team of talents, including John Schlesinger, Ken Russell, Patrick Garland, David Jones, Humphrey Burton, John Berger, Peter Newington, Melvyn Bragg, Nancy Thomas and Alan Tyrer. Monitor ranged in subject over all the arts. Wheldon's Monitor lasted until he had "interviewed everyone I am interested in interviewing", and he was succeeded by Jonathan Miller for the series' last season.

Monitor

1958

The Rules of the Game poster
7.5

The Marquis de la Chesnaye and his wife host a weekend gala where a variety of complicated romantic and social entanglements between guests and servants lead to tragedy, all against the backdrop of a looming war.

The Rules of the Game

1939

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye poster
6.2

Heinz Bütler interviews Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) late in life. Cartier-Bresson pulls out photographs, comments briefly, and holds them up to Bütler's camera. A few others share observations, including Isabelle Huppert, Arthur Miller, and Josef Koudelka. Cartier-Bresson talks about his travels, including Mexico in the 1930s, imprisonment during World War II, being with Gandhi moments before his assassination, and returning to sketching late in life. He shows us examples. He talks about becoming and being a photographer, about composition, and about some of his secrets to capture the moment.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye

2003

No artwork available
NR

Impressions of Mississippi by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Southern Exposures

1971

A Day in the Country poster
7.3

The family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day.

A Day in the Country

1946

Film credits

2000s · 3 titles

1960s · 3 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

No artwork available
NR

Impressions of Mississippi by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Southern Exposures

1971

Reunion poster
6.8

Live footage from concentration camps after the liberation, and the complex transport and lodging of masses of prisoners of war and other deported people back to their home countries, at the end of World War II. A 45min 35mm print also exists (shown at Cinémathèque française in 2023).

Reunion

1946

No artwork available
NR

Impressions of California as seen by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

California Impressions

1970

Life Is Ours poster
6.4

A propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing how the comrades help the proletariat against the capitalists.

Life Is Ours

1936

Stop Laughing, This Is England poster
NR

An amusing portrait of the English at work and at play in the industrial north of the country. Photographs by Henri Cartier Bresson. Broadcasted only once, in the cultural program Tempo, in 1963, on the ITV/ABC channel. The photographs filmed in the title box are cropped and augmented with tenderly ironic commentary on the English, inspired by Cartier-Bresson's notes for this commission.

Stop Laughing, This Is England

1963

With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain poster
4.8

This advocacy documentary about the Lincoln Brigade was shot during the Spanish Civil War to raise funds for bringing wounded American volunteers home. Some 2,800 Americans enlisted in the International Brigades to fight against fascism in defense of the Spanish Republic. The film was directed by Henri Cartier-Bresson with Herbert Kline and additional photography was provided by Jacques Lemare and Robert Capa. This film is held at New York University’s Tamiment Library and is part of a vast collection of materials in the Abraham Lincoln Brigades Archive.

With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain

1937

No artwork available
5.8

In this propaganda film intended to raise money for republicans fighting in the Spanish Civil War, Henri Cartier-Bresson first presents the achievements of the Spanish Republic in the field of public health. He then shows how members of the public and organizations across the world were supporting the fighters.

Return to Life

1937

Spain Will Live poster
7.0

In July 1936, the Spanish people resist the offensive by Franco’s army, backed by Italian and German fascists, aimed at conquering the country's major cities. Although many of the recruits to the new Republican Army are well trained, weapons and ammunition remain in short supply due to the non-intervention agreement initiated by France and signed by Italy and Germany. Yet the latter two countries continue to provide Franco’s army with military support and commit their troops on Spanish soil, while the fighters of the International Brigades return home.

Spain Will Live

1939

The Decisive Moment poster
6.3

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment is an 18-minute film produced in 1973 by Scholastic Magazines, Inc. and the International Center of Photography. It features a selection of Cartier-Bresson’s iconic photographs, along with rare commentary by the photographer himself.

The Decisive Moment

1973