in 1945, and worked as a literary and film critic for Combat, L'Écran français, and other publications.

In March 1948, Astruc published "Naissance d'une nouvelle avant-garde: la caméra-stylo" in L'Écran français. The essay argued that cinema was outgrowing its role as spectacle or filmed theatre and becoming a language in its own right, one through which a filmmaker could express thoughts, philosophy, and abstract ideas as directly