156 Ion INDOLEAN Ion INDOLEAN Auteur Theory and To What Extent is Quentin Tarantino an Auteur EKPHRASIS, 1/2013 ON CRITICISM pp. 156-164 Abstract: In this paper I present an overview of the authorial theory as it was articulated by Peter Wollen and Andrew Sarris, followed by an analysis of Quentin Tarantino's feature films, in relation to the concept of auteur. The purpose of this paper is to see to what extent is Quentin Tarantino an auteur. Key words: auteur theory, Andrew Sarris, Cahiers du cinema, Peter Wollen, American cinematography, European cinematography, Quentin Tarantino. Since the beginning of cinema, like in any other art, there have been many kinds of filmmakers. Some have created movies in order to gain fame and money, aware that they may be very good specialists or crafsmen, but they lack value, talent and vision to impose the uniqueness or origi- nality, while others have had these cha- racteristics and distinguished themselves from the rest. The later are called authors 1 and are part of a “club” which is less nu- merous and “tasted” by a litle percentage of the audience. In cinema, the first who brought the concept of auteur into ques- tion were the French from Cahier du cine- ma, one of the oldest and most valuable film publication. André Bazin can be cal- led the father of this theory, although he rapidly let his younger fellow theo- rists to expand it and bring it to the stage that it is today. François Truffaut inven- ted the phrase “policy of authors”, which referred to the common aesthetic of worshiping the film directors, and even though he and his colleagues didn”t hold in regard the American filmmakers, they Ion Indolean “Babeș-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca Email: ionindolean@yahoo.com