Tourou et Bitti (Les tambours d’avant) (S)

In 1971 Rouch made Les Tambours d’avant: Tourou et Bitti, a successful experiment with the long-take, and the model film of the ciné-trance, in which the camera-person becomes involved, or entranced, in the events to the degree that he or she achieves a sort of Dionysian fusion with the event filmed, in turn provoking the participants to respond to the camera. Rouch himself considers this to be his only fully accomplished ciné-trance film. In the middle of his attempt to capture a possession ritual in one shot, the musicians suddenly stop playing, seemingly giving up hope that the génies will appear. But when Rouch keeps the camera rolling it causes, according to him, the musicians to suppose that he could see the génies through his camera, and to resume playing, which in turn causes the dancers to enter into a trance. The successful long-take, and especially the hitch in the middle, are used by Rouch to exemplify the idea of provocation and its ideal circular instance in the ciné-trance.