Quality Wars: The Groupe des Trente and the Renewal of the Short Subject in France, 1953–1963

Abstract

The Groupe des Trente (Group of Thirty, hereafter G30) was a collective of French film directors, producers, critics, and technicians. It formed in 1953 with a mission to protest proposed changes in state funding policies that the group described as a threat to the unique form of the short subject (le court metrage). The origins of the policies in question draw on reforms instituted some 20 years earlier and revised during the 1940-44 German occupation by the Comite de l’Organisation dse l’Industrie Cinematographique (Organizing Committee of the Cinema Industry, aka COIC) and its postwar successor, the Centre National de la CInematographie (National Center for Cinema, aka CNC). In 1953, the G30 lobbied against a proposed replacement of automatic support for the short subject to a quality subsidy (prime a la qualite) to be awarded competitively. The second part of the G30’s mission was to promote dialogue and exchange of screenings with filmmakers working in U.S.S.R. capitals including Moscow, Leningrad, and Prague.