It is hard to think of any upcoming film that could please filmmakers, film scholars, film historians, and cinephiles alike other than the upcoming documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut.  Recently announced at Cannes, the documentary will explore the influence of Francois Truffaut and Alfred Hitchcock on film culture and the careers of other renowned filmmakers through Truffaut’s highly regarded 1962 interviews with Hitchcock, which were subsequently published in Hitchcock: The definitive study of Alfred Hitchcock. 

Even excluding the two iconic men, the film is steeped in prominence; written and directed by Kent Jones (Director of Programming of The New York Film Festival, past editor-at-large of Film Comment), and co-written by Serge Toubiana (Director of Cinematheque Francaise), the film will feature interviews with Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, David Fincher, Wes Anderson, Brian De Palma, Richard Linklater, the Dardenne Brothers, Olivier Assayas, Arnaud Desplechin, and James Gray.

Both Hitchcock and Truffaut are so iconic that their names are virtually synonymous with cinema: the former is often regarded as “The Master of Suspense,” (please read our wonderful retrospective review of Hitchcock’s Stage Fright) while the latter, a film critic-turned-director, was a leading pioneer of the French New Wave.  According to Variety, the film will feature various clips from the historical interviews and from Hitchcock’s films (though, for some reason, no word on clips from Truffaut’s films).

Cohen Media Group, Artline Films and Arte will produce the film, which should be released in the spring of 2015.