Obituary: Janine Bazin

According to the French film director Jean-Luc Godard, Janine Bazin, who has died aged 80, was "a star who lit up the history of cinema". For some years, she lived in the reflected glory of her husband, the influential film critic and theorist Andre Bazin. After his premature death in 1958, at the age of 40 - and tragically missing the French new wave which he had helped instigate - Janine carried on the Bazin flame by co-producing the unequalled television series Cineastes De Notre Temps.

Both Janine and Andre also played a major role in the life of Francois Truffaut, who, as a teenager, had been aban doned by both his mother and his stepfather. The director looked on the Bazins as his adoptive or spiritual parents, and acknowledged that they had saved him from an unproductive and self- destructive life.

In 1950, while the 18-year-old Truffaut was doing his military service, he deserted twice. In the guardhouse in Germany, he wrote to a friend: "The Bazins are darlings. Last night, 24 December, I received a telegram from them: 'Keep your spirits up, we're working on your behalf. Merry Christmas. Affectionately, Janine and Andre.'"

As a result of the Bazins' intercession, Truffaut was released, after which he went to live with them for two years, during which time he began to write for Cahiers Du Cinema, the renowned magazine co-founded by Andre Bazin. The director also credited Janine withencouraging him to step in front of the camera, which he did very affectively in Wild Child (1969), Day For Night (1973), The Green Room (1978) and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977).

Born in Paris, Janine met her future husband while she was working for Labour and Culture, a militant organisation associated with the French Communist party, which had emerged from the wartime resistance.

After they married in 1949, and had their son Florent, Andre would sometimes write under the nom de plume of Florent Kirsch (his wife's maiden name). Warm and generous, they both loved the country and animals. But Andre was weakened by tuberculosis and had spent spells in sanatoria, while Janine had a limp from adolescence. He had a stammer, and she was loquacious.

In 1964, still heady from the first years of the new wave movement, in which Truffaut was a leading figure, Janine, with Andre S Labarthe, produced Cineastes de Notre Temps, mostly hour-long programmes which focused on the significant film directors of the day. Wonderfully eclectic, they assumed the audience had a reasonable knowledge of the subjects. The aim was to reveal, through the appropriate cinematic approach, the special climate created by each filmmaker.

Sometimes, these programmes were made in the style of the interviewees - the Sam Fuller programme, for example, consisted of rapid fire shots, while the Robert Bresson was austere with Francois Weyergan's questions being far longer than the answers given by the master.

Often, well-known directors paid homage to their idols. Among the most famous were Jean Vigo by Jacques Rozier, Carl Dreyer by Eric Rohmer; there was a memorable meeting between Fritz Lang and Jean-Luc Godard, directed by Labarthe, and Jacques Rivette on Jean Renoir, the patron saint of the new wave. These programmes are still treasured by cineastes and cinephiles all over the world.

When, in 1974, the programme was axed by the French network ORTF, Truff- aut battled to help Janine as she found herself - in his words - "without any work or money." He also activated her son's film career as a leading cinematographer.

In 1980, a new series called Cinema De Notre Temps began with Janine Bazin and Andre Labarthe again as producers. Among the more recent contributions have been One Day In The Life Of Andrei Arsenevich, Chris Marker's film on Andrei Tarkovsky, a self-portrait by Chantal Akerman, and others on Rohmer, John Cassavetes and Hou Hsiao-hsien.

In the meantime, Janine created the international film festival in Belfort, which concentrates on first features, retrospectives and themes. Florent survives her.

· Janine Bazin, film and television producer; born January 29 1923; died May 31 2003