Arles - The Photography Meetings - A French History

From meetings between a small group of photographers in 1970 to a million visits in 2018, it is a whole saga of photography which is registered on the Arlesian lands. originally, Lucien Clergue, photographer, Jean-Maurice Rouquette, curator, Michel Tournier, writer, campaign for the recognition of photography, choose the festival to do so hear. It was not without fights, boos and parties until the end of the night. most famous photographers (Ansel Adams, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Don McCullin, Gisèle Freund, André Kertész, Josef Koudelka, Sergio Larrain...) to the lesser known ones at the time (Sophie Calle, Thibaut Cuisset, Alain Fleischer, Gao Bo, Nan Goldin, Françoise Huguier, Annette Messenger, Martin Parr, Sophie Ristelhueber...), who would then join the museum walls, the Rencontres de la photographie have accompanied many courses, opened their program to other continents, spread their exhibitions and their know-how as far as China. To find the common thread of fifty years of history through a multitude of exhibitions, screenings, conferences, prizes, workshops... Historian Françoise Denoyelle consulted the archives and questioned numerous witnesses. A look back at a story of women and men, on the emergence of new generations, new perspectives, new practices, new reports on the production of images from the 1980s and 2000s to the present days, when film was giving way to digital before the era of the smartphone is coming. 5 interviews punctuate this story, with the testimonies of Jean-Maurice Rouquette, Christian Caujolle, Jane Evelyn Atwood, Clément Chéroux, Sam Stourdzé. Everyone brings their point of view on key moments and aspects. of the festival. Magnificent Breathing, in 13 Unpublished Photographs, the Arlesian Stroll by Bernard Plossu tells of another Arles, that of the Arlesians, another festival, that of moments reserved for the stroller on the banks of the Rhône, festival-goer in search of a refreshing coolness on the dusty road to Beauduc beach.