In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a new generation of filmmakers emerged worldwide, born

before World War 11 but grown to adulthood in the postwar era of reconstruction and rising
prosperity. These young cinema groups, some trained in film schools and allied with specialized
film magazines, revolted against their elders in the industry. The most influential group appeared
in France, where a group of young men who wrote for the Paris film journal Cahiers du cinéma
attacked the most artistically respected French filmmakers of the day. They claimed that certain
auteurs (authors) existed in American cinema, transcending the constraints of Hollywood's
standardized system. These young men itched to make movies, borrowing money from friends
and filming on location. By 1959, they had become a force to be reckoned with, with Rivette
filmed Paris nous appartient, Godard made À Bout de souffle, Chabrol made Les Cousins, and
Trufault's Les Quatre cent coups won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Festival. Journalists
nicknamed them la nouvelle vague-the French New Wave, and their output was staggering. The
most obvious revolutionary quality of the French New Wave films was their casual look, which
contrasted with the polished French cinema of quality. The directors took actual locales in and
around Paris as their mise-en-scene, and shooting on location became the norm. Few postwar
French films would have shown the dim side of the industry.