Jean-François Rauger was born in 1959 in Strasbourg, where he studied law. After working for the Centre National de la Cinématographie, and a teaching stint at the University of Paris, he joined the Cinémathèque française in 1992, where he is currently director of programming. A former contributor to Sight and Sound and Cahier de cinema, today he is a regular contributor to Le Monde, and is on the editorial committee of the journal Cinéma.