Day for Night (La Nuit américaine)

Named after the trick of filming daytime scenes through a filter so that they pass for night, Day for Night (French: La Nuit américaine) is François Truffaut's 1973 French-Italian romantic comedy-drama, which he wrote together with Suzanne Schiffman and Jean-Louis Richard. Turning the camera on filmmaking itself, it follows the troubled shoot of a melodrama and the difficulties of the people in front of and behind the lens. It is dedicated to Lillian Gish and her sister Dorothy.

The film within the film is a melodrama called Je vous présente Paméla. Truffaut himself plays the director Ferrand, Jacqueline Bisset is Julie, Jean-Pierre Léaud is Alphonse and Jean-Pierre Aumont is Alexandre, with Valentina Cortese, Alexandra Stewart and Nathalie Baye. From make-up artist to stunt double and producer, everyone who makes a film gets attention, so it reads as a tribute to filmmakers.

It premiered out of competition at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film the next year; in 1975 it was also nominated for director, original screenplay and Cortese as supporting actress. It won three BAFTAs, for best film, direction and Cortese's supporting performance. Later critics rank it among Truffaut's best films.