1917: May 31 - Born in Paris, France.

1925: Sees his first movies in Brest, France - Nanook of the North by Robert Flaherty

1934: Obtains his Baccalauréat (high school diploma) in mathematics.

1937: Accepted to the engineering school l'École des Ponts et Chaussées.

1941: Receives his civil engineering diploma from l'École des Ponts et Chaussées. Sent to Niger as an engineer.

1944: Returns to a liberated Paris to study anthropology under Marcel Griaule.

1946: Leaves for Africa in order to descend the Niger River with a 16 mm camera.

1947: Makes his first film: Au pays des mages noirs - shot in Niger.

1948: Begins to work for the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique while advising the Musée de l'Homme.

1949: Receives first prize at the International Festival for Cursed Films, over which Jean Cocteau was presiding, for his film: Initiation à la danse des Possédés.

1952: Defends his thesis in Humanities.

1954-1960: Studies Nigerian migrants in the Gold Coast.

1953: Does research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Creates the Comité du film ethnographique with Enrico Fulchignoni, Marcel Griaule, André Leroi-Gourhan, Henry Langlois and Claude Levi-Strauss.

1955: His film, Les maitres fous (Mad Masters) receives the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

1958: Directs Moi, un noir (Me, a Black Man) which wins the Louis Delluc award in 1959.

1959-1961: His film Chronique d'un été (Chronicle of a Summer) receives the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and other awards in Venice and Manneheim in 1961. Becomes Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Publishes his thesis: Songhay Religion and Magic.

1962: Organizes the International Colloquium on West African Immigration. Co-directs, with Michel Brault, Rose et Landry - which receives the San Giorgio Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

1965: Directs La Chasse au lion a l'arc (The Lion Hunters) which wins the Grand Prize at Venice's International Show of Cinematographic Art in 1965. Films Gare du Nord for a film project with Claude Chabrol, Jean Douchet, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Daniel Pollet and Eric Rohmer.

1966: Begins filming with Germaine Dieterlen - Sigui: chez les Dogon du Mali (1966-1973). Creates the audiovisual laboratory in religious sciences with Germaine Dieterlen and Claude Levi-Strauss at l'école pratique des hautes études - Sorbonne. Publishes the Catalog of Films on Africa, an Introduction to African Cinema - UNESCO, Paris. Publishes the Catalogue of 100 Films of Ethnographic Interest - CNRS, Paris.

1969: Creates (with Enrico Fulchignoni and Henri Langlois) a Ph.D. program in cinema studies at the University of Paris Sorbonne and Nanterre.

1970: Films Petit à Petit (Little by Little).

1975: Named Director of Research of exceptional rank at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

1977: Creates the festival " Cinéma du Réel" with Jean Michel Arnold at the Georges Pompidou Center.

1979: Presents his films at the Georges Pompidou Center and in forty six other countries.

1980: Given an honorary doctorate at the University of Leyde.

1981-1985: Visiting Professor at Harvard.

1983: Elected Vice-President of the International Council on Film and Television (UNESCO).

1984: Films Dionysos.

1986-1991: President of the Cinématheque francaise.

1988: Receives honorary doctorates from the University of Lima and the University of Southern California.

The Georges Pompidou Center

1989: Films: Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité et puis aprés... for the bicentennial celebration of the French Revolution.

1991: Given an award by the American Anthropological Association. Writes the preface to the Langlois Museum Catalog: The Thousand and One Nights of Henry Langlois.

1992: Rouch retrospective at the Cinématheque of Torino.

1993: Madame l'eau (Mrs. Water) receives the International Peace Prize in Berlin.

1996: Directs En une Poignée de mains amies with Portuguese filmmaker Manuel De Oliveira. Retrospective of his films in the National Gallery of Jeu de Paume (Paris).

1997: Films: Faire-part Musée Henry Langlois - Cinématheque Francaise.

1999: Retrospective of his films at the Cinématheque Francaise.

2004: February 19 - fatal car crash in Niger.