The theory or practice that recognizes film directors as the primary creative authors of their films, with distinctive personal styles and artistic vision.
From French 'auteur' + English '-ism' (a doctrine or practice). The term solidified in English film criticism in the 1960s as the 'auteur theory' became an influential framework for analyzing and evaluating cinema.
Auteurism completely changed how critics, students, and audiences watch films—instead of seeing a movie as a product made by a studio, we now look for the director's fingerprints, their themes, their visual style.
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