French filmmaker killed in car crash
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NIAMEY, Niger (Reuters) -- French film director Jean Rouch, a pioneer of the "cinema verite" style of documentaries who also helped launch African cinema, was killed Wednesday night in a car crash in Niger.
Three other people in the car -- his wife, Niger film maker Moustapha Alhassane and actor Damour Zika -- were seriously injured in the crash 600 km (375 miles) north of the capital Niamey.
"We don't yet know the exact circumstances of the accident. Jean Rouch was travelling in his friend Moustapha Alhassane's car," Laurent Clavel, the director of the France-Niger Cultural Centre, told Reuters on Thursday.
Born in Paris in 1917, Rouch spent much of his career in West Africa after working there as a civil engineer during World War II.
He shot his first film shortly after the war on the Niger River, developing his original style when his tripod fell in the water. His films include "Jaguar" and "Moi, Un Noir," which followed the daily routine of three young labourers in Ivory Coast's capital Abidjan.
Rouch is widely seen as one of the fathers of "cinema verite," a style of documentary film in which the subjects act freely without any directorial control.
He was in Niger, a country notorious for road accidents, for a week-long film festival.
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