Breaking with the old studio system, the New Wave directors Jean-Luc Godard, Francios Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer, and others insisted on seeing the director as an author or “auteur”. This book looks at how such classics as “Breathless”, “Contempt”, “Jules and Jim”, and “Masculine/Feminine” laid the groundwork for today’s independent film industry.