Summary:

In ‘La caméra outil pédagogique’ (1955), Fernand Deligny proposed an original approach to cinema with young delinquents at La Grande Cordée, putting forward the idea that these teenagers should take the camera in hand themselves in order to reappropriate their image and their social condition. His project is based on a materialistic vision, in which social transformation is linked to mastery of the tools of production. Despite the difficulty of making films, he sees cinema as an ongoing educational process, aimed at restructuring young people’s perceptions and intentions. His approach was inspired by the work of Henri Wallon and rooted in a context of experimental collective education. Deligny proposed a practical synthesis between the use of cinema and the education of these troubled teenagers. Rather than limiting cinema to a simple means of disseminating images, he enables young people to become producers of their own reality by mastering the cinematographic technique. This is in line with the theses of Benjamin and Medvedkine on the importance of collectivising the production of images in order to transform perception. Teenagers thus become actors and authors of their own lives, told by themselves through the camera. This emancipatory process makes them autonomous subjects, transcending their status as social misfits.

Key words: Experimental cinema | Camera | Adolescence | Experimental Education | Individual | Environment | Technique | Deligny