Film history, theory or criticism Books

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Book SynopsisTengiz Abuladze's allegorical film, made in Georgia, is the best known film of the perestroika and glasnost years. With its outspoken and controversial reference to the Stalin era and Stalin's place in the Soviet psyche, 'Repentance' was originally shelved but ultimately released in 1986 to widespread popular and critical acclaim. This _KINOfile_ investigates the production, context and critical reception of the film, the people who made it, and provides an analysis of the film itself and its place in world cinema.

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Book SynopsisArguably the first masterpiece of post-Stalinist cinema, "The Cranes are Flying" is an intersection of politics and art. A product of Khruschev's "Thaw", its sympathetic portrayal of human beings affected by World War II, and its highly individual style won awards worldwide. Josephine Woll examines questions of theme and genre, the controversial representation of heroism and the audience reaction to these issues, as well as production, content, style and context.Trade Review"Woll's book comes highly recommended. Perhaps above all it will make every reader wish to see The Cranes are Flying again!" -Arthur M. Eckstein, Film International

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Book SynopsisJust what is 'independent' cinema? D. K. Holm aims to define a term all too carelessly used both by media commentators and marketers, and distinguish it from categories such as avant-garde, underground, experimental or 'art' films, with which it is often confused. By contrasting studio-era Hollywood with changes in the business since the 1970s, and the rise of companies such as Miramax and New Line, it shows the birth of a commercial environment in which the new independent cinema can emerge. Profiles of specific filmmakers suggest how diverse personalities use independent cinema for individual ends; directors such as James Mangold, who found indie cinema to be a stepping stone to more mainstream movies, Jill Sprecher, who uses its flexibility to explore philosophical ideas, and Guy Maddin, one of the few true independent filmmakers, whose films are beholden to his own unique vision rather than financiers or abstract audience markets.Trade Reviewwell produced, comprehensive yet compact in size and succinct. They include focused content, reviews of key films and even relevant DVDs as part of the package! They border on the authoritive when it comes to content and offer overviews of major film genres in bite sized packages... of interest not only to the film fanatic but to any student of cinema, indeed they would prove of exceptional value in TAFE and University film courses * Synergy Magazine *

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Book SynopsisIn this vivid and accessible new account of the dawn of film in Britain, internationally respected film historian and curator Bryony Dixon introduces us to Britain's first cinematic pioneers – an eclectic mix of chemists, engineers, photography enthusiasts, fairground showmen and magicians – who in a few short years built a vibrant new industry. As she chronicles the emergence of the first embryonic film forms and genres, she reveals often surprising innovations, from cutting-edge science to ingeniously witty tricks and comedies, with filmmakers reflecting existing entertainment forms as well as advancing editing and cinematography in ways that shaped the art of film for many decades after. Dixon offers fresh insights by focusing on the films themselves – many of them only recently available to view – while building on the work of generations of scholars. In the process, Dixon makes a compelling case for the British filmmakers of the era as inventive and creative figures, every bit as influential as their more celebrated contemporaries in France and the US.Trade Review9781911239611 * Sight and Sound *Bryony Dixon has been instrumental in bringing the BFI Archive’s unique collection of Victorian films to the widest possible audience. In this beautifully illustrated book, she provides these potent and often undervalued historical documents with a thoughtful and informative commentary. -- Barry Anthony, co-author of A Victorian Film Enterprise (1999)Bryony Dixon brings to life the marvels of Victorian cinema in this book. Providing a field-guide to the different genres of the period, this is the perfect accompaniment to the newly digitized treasures from the BFI National Archive. -- Malcolm Cook, University of Southampton, UKBursting with great stories and enterprising characters, this book makes a convincing, and very entertaining, case for pausing to savour cinema’s first decade. In this page-turning survey of innovations, ingenuity and vital sparks of imagination, we see the seeds of all cinematic life to come. -- Pamela Hutchinson, author of The Red Shoes and Pandora’s Box (BFI Film Classics)With verve and intelligence, Bryony Dixon provides a comprehensive introduction to Victorian cinema, setting these films in historical context while proving that the past is much closer, and more familiar, than we think. Her intimate knowledge of these gems makes her the ideal guide. -- Jay Weissberg, director, The Pordenone Silent Film FestivalTable of ContentsForeword Part One: The Victorian World Actualities and Topicals Close Ups: The Launch of HMS Albion (1898) The Arrest of Goudie (1901) Actualities and News Close Ups: Biograph's Grand National Mar 24th 1900 (lost film) Street Life Close Ups: Children Dancing to a Barrel Organ (1898) Launch of the Worthing Lifeboat (1898) Artistic/Aesthetic Close Ups: Sea Cave in Lisbon Natural History and Science Close Ups: Spider on a Web (1900) Panoramas and Phantom Rides Close Ups: Panorama of the Paris Exhibition (1900) Travel and industry Close-ups Feeding the Pigeons in St Mark's Square, Venice (1898) Local filmp Close-ups The factory gate films of M&K War and military Close-ups Battle of Spion Kop: Ambulance Corps Crossing the Tugela River (1900) Part 2: The Victorian Mind Comic sketches and facials Close-ups The Big Swallow (1901) Variety acts and novelties Close-ups Kitty Mahone (1900) Promotional films Close-ups Mr Moon (1900) Erotic films Close-ups Undressing Extraordinary (1901) Trick and children's film Close-ups Santa Claus (1898) Drama and Adaptation Close-ups The Death of Poor Joe (1900) Epilogue: A Victorian Crystal Ball

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Book SynopsisCinema Memories brings together and analyses the memories of almost a thousand people of going to the cinema in Britain during the 1960s. It offers a fresh perspective on the social, cultural and film history of what has come to be seen as an iconic decade, with the release of films such as A Taste of Honey, The Sound of Music, Darling, Blow-Up, Alfie, The Graduate, and Bonnie and Clyde. Drawing on first-hand accounts, authors Melvyn Stokes, Matthew Jones and Emma Pett explore how cinema-goers constructed meanings from the films they watched - through a complex process of negotiation between the films concerned, their own social and cultural identities, and their awareness of changes in British society. Their analysis helps the reader see what light the cultural memory of 1960s cinema-going sheds on how the Sixties in Britain is remembered and interpreted. Positioning their study within debates about memory, 1960s cinema, and the seemingly transformative nature of this decade of British history, the authors reflect on the methodologies deployed, the use of memories as historical sources, and the various ways in which cinema and cinema-going came to mean something to their audiences.Trade ReviewThis research is an excellent reminder of the importance of the cinema experience in that culturally significant decade … and it also serves to point out just how much has changed over the last fifty years … [The book] may provoke nostalgia in some older readers, whilst for younger readers it’s a fascinating window into an almost lost world. * Cinema Retro Magazine *Cinema Memories paints a fascinating portrait of the place of cinema in the lives and imaginations of its British audiences in the 1960s. Based on an extensive collection of interviews and questionnaires, it makes a vivid contribution both to the social history of the period and to the rapidly developing field of memory studies. -- Richard Maltby, Flinders University, AustraliaCinema Memories maps exciting and accessible new routes through the spaces and places of 1960s cinema and social history in Britain. It deftly connects New Cinema History’s methodological emphasis on empirical contexts of cinema-going and film reception with intellectual traditions grounded in British Cultural Studies and People’s History. -- Jeffrey Klenotic, University of New Hampshire, USATable of ContentsIntroduction 1. ‘This is where we came in’: cinema-going in the sixties 2. Sex and the Cinema 3. ‘The times they are a-changin’?: American Sixties Films 4. Reflecting ‘what life was like’?: British films of the 1960s 5. 'New Waves' from Europe 6. Postcolonial Audiences 7. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThe story of an immortal Scottish warrior battling evil down through the centuries, Highlander fused a high-concept idea with the kinetic energy of a pop promo pioneer and Queen’s explosive soundtrack to become a cult classic. When two American producers took a chance on a college student’s script, they set in motion a chain of events involving an imploding British film studio, an experimental music video director still finding his filmmaking feet, a former James Bond with a spiralling salary, and the unexpected arrival of low-budget production company, Cannon Films. Author Jonathan Melville looks back at the creation of Highlander with the help of more than 60 cast and crew, as they talk candidly about the gruelling shoot that took them from the back alleys of London, to the far reaches of the Scottish Highlands, and onto the mean streets of 1980s New York City. With insights from Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor on the film’s iconic music, exclusive screenwriter commentary on unmade scripts, never-before-seen photos from private collections, and a glimpse into the promotional campaign that never was. If there can be only one book on Highlander then this is it!Trade Review'An engrossing read with plenty of on-set anecdotes' 4 out of 5 stars * Total Film *'A definitive history ... which every fan should read' * Starburst *'As well as being the story of the Highlander film itself, it’s a fascinating look at the film-making process ... Jonathan Melville's A Kind of Magic - Making the Original Highlander is an absolute joy to read and an absolutely essential purchase for any Highlander fan' * We Are Cult *'There really can only be one Highlander… and you’re highly unlikely to find a better account of it.' 9/10 * Sci-Fi Bulletin *'Jonathan Melville rounds up an impressive number of the key players… and mixes new interviews with plenty of material from the archives' * SFX *'At over 300 pages, this is literally Everything You Wanted To Know About Highlander But Were Afraid To Ask. An epic with a cast of thousands' * The Dobermann Always Rings Twice *'A Kind of Magic: Making the Original Highlander tracks down an astonishing number of the film's cast and crew to give an unparalleled account of its creation... if you’re one of the film’s many fans this is the perfect companion' * The Courier, Book of the Week, 9/10 *

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Book SynopsisDiscover the science behind the most popular sci-fi franchise of all time! We marvel at the variety of creatures and technology and the mystery behind the force. But how much of the Star Wars world is rooted in reality? Could we see some of the extraordinary inventions materialize in our world? This uncomplicated, entertaining read makes it easy to understand how advanced physics concepts, such as wormholes and Einstein’s theory of relativity, apply to the Star Wars universe.Trade Review“If you’ve ever wondered how life could arise on Tatooine or how likely it is that there’s a cantina full of aliens somewhere in our galaxy, The Science of Star Wars is for you.”—San Francisco Book Review“A real treat, with many moments of epiphany lurking between the pages . . . Offers much more than just the scientific facts.”—Labtimes“A gloriously fascinating look into that galaxy far, far away!”—Professor Lewis Dartnell, University of Westminster, New York Times bestselling author of The Knowledge“As a longtime Star Wars maniac, I’d like to recommend Mark Brake and Jon Chase’s The Science of Star Wars: The Scientific Facts Behind the Force, Space Travel, and More! for the geek on your Christmas list. The book is divided into sections on space travel, space, aliens, tech, and bio-tech, with each addressing the scientific feasibility of the Star Wars universe, from faster than light travel to the nature of the Force itself. Written in a clear, friendly style, reading The Science of Star Wars is like sitting down for a conversation with a super geeky scientist friend.”—Unbound Worlds“Using the basic principles of mathematics and science, author Mark Brake and science presenter Jon Chase have unlocked some of the secrets behind the George Lucas films, and have concluded that The Force might not be complete fantasy.”—Telegraph“A fairly easy read in the sense that simple language is used to explain what can at times be fairly complex concepts . . . It’s certainly best enjoyed by anyone with a bent towards the stars and how they stay up there. . . . For the right fan, it would be an excellent Christmas present.”—In a Far Away Galaxy“If you’ve ever wondered how life could arise on Tatooine or how likely it is that there’s a cantina full of aliens somewhere in our galaxy, The Science of Star Wars is for you.”—San Francisco Book Review“A real treat, with many moments of epiphany lurking between the pages . . . Offers much more than just the scientific facts.”—Labtimes“A gloriously fascinating look into that galaxy far, far away!”—Professor Lewis Dartnell, University of Westminster, New York Times bestselling author of The Knowledge“As a longtime Star Wars maniac, I’d like to recommend Mark Brake and Jon Chase’s The Science of Star Wars: The Scientific Facts Behind the Force, Space Travel, and More! for the geek on your Christmas list. The book is divided into sections on space travel, space, aliens, tech, and bio-tech, with each addressing the scientific feasibility of the Star Wars universe, from faster than light travel to the nature of the Force itself. Written in a clear, friendly style, reading The Science of Star Wars is like sitting down for a conversation with a super geeky scientist friend.”—Unbound Worlds“Using the basic principles of mathematics and science, author Mark Brake and science presenter Jon Chase have unlocked some of the secrets behind the George Lucas films, and have concluded that The Force might not be complete fantasy.”—Telegraph“A fairly easy read in the sense that simple language is used to explain what can at times be fairly complex concepts . . . It’s certainly best enjoyed by anyone with a bent towards the stars and how they stay up there. . . . For the right fan, it would be an excellent Christmas present.”—In a Far Away Galaxy

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Book SynopsisAm 21. August 1948, vor 75 Jahren, wurde die "Filmatelier Göttingen GmbH" gegründet. Auch in der Filmbranche war nach der Katastrophe des Nationalsozialismus und Zweiten Weltkriegs ein Neuanfang notwendig, auch in ganz praktischer Hinsicht: Die alte Filmmetropole Berlin war zerstört, die UFA-Ateliers in Babelsberg befanden sich in russischer Hand. Es war purer Zufall, dass die beiden Filmenthusiasten Rolf Thiele und Hans Abich nach dem Krieg in Göttingen landeten. Auf einem ehemaligen Wehrmachtsflughafen fanden sie eine leerstehende Halle, die sie zu einer der modernsten Atelieranlagen nach dem Weltkrieg ausbauten. Buchstäblich im Rucksack wurden die ersten technischen Geräte aus Berlin nach Göttingen transportiert. Göttingen sollte, so die idealistische Idee der Gründer, die Keimzelle einer neuen Filmkultur werden. In den folgenden Jahren entstanden bei der "Filmatelier Göttingen GmbH" zahlreiche Kinoproduktionen, darunter Kassenerfolge wie "Hunde wollt ihr ewig leben" und "Nacht fiel über Gotenhafen", Heinz-Erhardt-Komödien ("Natürlich die Autofahrer"), Melodramen ("Die Barrings"), zeitkritische Werke ("Rosen für den Staatsanwalt") und künstlerisch anspruchsvolle Arbeiten ("Es kommt ein Tag", "Geliebtes Lebens").Der Film brachte unversehens Glamour nach Göttingen, Schauspieler wie Maria Schell, Nadja Tiller, Marina Vlady, Conny Froboess, O.W. Fischer oder Hans Albers waren zu Gast. Ein Hauch von Hollywood wehte durch die südniedersächsische Provinz. Allerdings währte der Traum nur 13 Jahre lang. Schon bald konzentrierte sich die Filmherstellung wieder auf die traditionellen Metropolen Berlin und, vor allem, München. Ende 1961 schloss das Atelier für immer seine Pforten.

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Book SynopsisRidiculous' is a relative term, what is nonsense for one can be an important guideline for another. It is not about laying down the law. For each of the 51 rules covered in each book, Van Gaalen refers to quotes by famous fellow creators, who either think there's something to the rule or have made a personal variation on it.

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Book SynopsisAttention Spans' chronological review of Garrett Stewart's critical approach tracks and maps the evolution of intersecting disciplines from late New Criticism through structuralism, deconstruction, narrative theory (by way of narratography), poetics, and media studies, in which Stewart's has been so persistent and so eloquent a voice. Excerpts from his twenty books are framed by editorial retrospect, then linked by Stewart's own commentary on the variety and underlying vectors of his interpretive career across aesthetic forms, from Victorian narrative to recent American fiction, classic celluloid cinema to postfilmic digital effects, inert book sculpture and literary wordplay to the soundscape of singing on screen. Accompanied by a glossary of his many influential coinages, this cornucopia of analyses is also a chronicle of evolving paradigms in the work of intensive reading.

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Book SynopsisClive Chijioke Nwonka is Associate Professor in Film, Culture and Society at University College London, UK.

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Book SynopsisLindiwe Dovey is Professor of Film and Screen Studies at SOAS University of London, UK. From 2019 to 2024, she is the Principal Investigator of the ERC-funded project African Screen Worlds: Decolonising Film and Screen Studies (www.screenworlds.org).Kate Taylor-Jones is Professor of East Asian Cinema and Head of the School of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK. Her publications include the monograph, Divine Work: Japanese Colonial Cinema and its Legacy (Bloomsbury, 2017) and co-edited works Prostitution and Sex Work in Global Cinema: New Takes on Fallen Women (2017) and International Cinema and the Girl (2015). She is editor-in-chief of The East Asian Journal of Popular Culture.Georgia Thomas-Parr is a lecturer in film and screen studies at the School of Arts, SOAS, UK. The underlying interest of her research lies in the subjects of girlhood, coming-of-age, and femininity as represented in visual culture (film and media), shaped by gender and feminist critique.

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Book SynopsisThis rich collection of articles and essays by film historians, translation scholars, archivists, and curators presents film translation history as an exciting and timely area of research. It builds on the last twenty years of research into the history of dubbing and subtitling, but goes further, by showing how subtitling, dubbing, and other forms of audiovisual translation developed over the first fifty years of the twentieth century.This is the first book-length study, in any language, of the international history of audiovisual translation which includes silent cinema. Its scope covers national contexts both within Europe and beyond. It shows how audiovisual translation practices were closely tied to their commercial, technological and industrial contexts. The Translation of Films, 1900-1950 draws extensively on archival sources and expertise. In doing so it revisits and challenges some of the established narratives around film languages and the coming of sound. For instance, the voTrade ReviewThe Translation of Films, 1900-1950 is a truly remarkable achievement, illustrating the potential of archival research in AVT (audiovisual translation)studies. Aiming "to set the agenda for research on the history of film translation" (11), this ground-breaking book makes a significant contribution to both AVT and Film Studies, opening up truly multidisciplinary perspectives and marking a radical change in our understanding of film translation history. * Serenella Zanotti, Journal of Specialised Translation *Across all chapters presented in this collection, the value and importance of archive-based research is consistently brought to the fore, and several chapters present valuable models for approaching primary materials relating to audiovisual translation... While this volume is not the first to cover this territory, it may well prove to be a focusing point, and in some senses a leveller, for future archive-driven studies into the topic. * Peter Walsh, Journal of Film Preservation *The collection's comparative spirit of challenging and probing, of stimulating the contact zone between disciplines ... cover[s] old ground in new ways: as essays from archive and academy shed light on each other's disciplinary emphases, early film translation in all its incarnations is revealed at once to be an engine of international circulation, a site of artistic experimentation, and an inextricable part of the story of cinema ... proves that translated films ... are eminently worthy of preservation and study ... The Translation of Films' accumulative potential to change how films are preserved, distributed, studied, and seen, such that the archaeological puzzle of film translation history, with all its missing pieces, may start to look more complete. * Daniella Schütze, Oxford Comparative Criticism & Translation *O'Sullivan and Cornu's book is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in film translation. In fact, it should be read not only by film and audiovisual translation historians, but also by practitioners. While today's film translation techniques may be a far cry from what the book describes, understanding the origins provides immense help in appreciating the current constraints and guidelines of good practice. * Lukasz Bogucki, Target *Table of ContentsList of illustrations List of tables Notes on Contributors Paolo Cherchi Usai: Foreword Acknowledgements 1: Carol O'Sullivan & Jean-François Cornu: Introduction 2: Bryony Dixon: Titles and Translation in the Field of Film Restoration 3: Claire Dupré la Tour: Early Film Titling Practices: Pathé's Innovative and Multilingual Strategies in 1903 4: Dominique Moustacchi: Intertitles, Translation, and Subtitling: Major Issues for the Restoration of Silent Films 5: Charles Barr: 'Don't Mention the War': the Soviet Re-editing of Three Live Ghosts 6: Thomas C. Christensen: Confessions of a Film Restorer 7: Geoff Brown: Universal Language, Local Accent: Music and Song in the Early Talking Film 8: Adrián Fuentes-Luque: Silence, Sound, Accents: Early Film Translation in the Spanish-speaking World 9: Carla Mereu Keating: 'A Delirium Tremens': Italian-language Film Versions and Early Dubbings by Paramount, MGM, and Fox (1930-33) 10: Charles O'Brien: Dubbing in the Early 1930s: an Improbable Policy 11: Jean-François Cornu: The Significance of Dubbed Versions for Early Sound-film History 12: Martin Barnier: The Reception of Dubbing in France 1931-33: the Case of Paramount 13: Rachel Weissbrod: Creativity under Constraints: The Beginning of Film Translation in Mandatory Palestine 14: Christopher Natzén: Film Translation in Sweden in the Early 1930s 15: Carol O'Sullivan: 'A Splendid Innovation, These English Titles!': The Invention of Subtitling in the US and the UK 16: Carol O'Sullivan & Jean-François Cornu: Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisArguing that jazz films create images of racial and sexual identity, many of which have become inseparable from popular notions of the music itself, this study explores the fundamental obsessions that American culture has brought to jazz in the cinema.

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Book SynopsisFilmmaker Alexander Medvedkin (1900 89), a contemporary of Sergei Eisenstein and Alexander Dovzhenko, is celebrated today for his unique form of total documentary cinema, which aimed to bridge the distance between film and life, and for his use of satire during a period when the Soviet authorities preferred that laughter be confined to narrowly prescribed channels. This collection of selected writings by Medvedkin is the first of its kind and reveals how his work is a crucial link in the history of documentary film. Although he was a dedicated communist, Medvedkin's satirical approach and social critiques ultimately led to his suppression by the Soviet regime. State institutions held back or marginalized his work, and for many years, his films were assumed to have been lost or destroyed. These texts, many assembled for this volume by Medvedkin himself, document for the first time his considerable achievements, experiments in film and theater, and attempts to develop satire as a major S

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Book SynopsisDave Kehr's writing about film has garnered high praise from both readers and fellow critics. Among his admirers are some of his most influential contemporaries. Roger Ebert called Kehr one of the most gifted film critics in America. James Naremore thought he was one of the best writers on film the country as a whole has ever produced. But aside from remarkably detailed but brief capsule reviews and top-ten lists, you won't find much of Kehr's work on the Internet, and many of the longer and more nuanced essays for which he is best known have not yet been published in book form. With When Movies Mattered, readers welcomed the first collection of Kehr's criticism, written during his time at the Chicago Reader. Movies That Mattered is its sequel, with fifty more reviews and essays drawn from the archives of both the Chicago Reader and Chicago magazine from 1974 to 1986. As with When Movies Mattered, the majority of the reviews offer in-depth analyses of individual films that are among Ke

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Book SynopsisIf you attend a contemporary art exhibition lately, you're unlikely to see much traditional painting or sculpture. Indeed, artists today are preoccupied with what happens when you leave behind assumptions about particular media such as painting, or woodcuts and instead focus on collisions between them, and the new forms and ideas that those collisions generate. Garrett Stewart in Transmedium dubs this new approach Conceptualism 2.0, an allusion in part to the computer images that are so often addressed by these works. A successor to 1960s Conceptualism, which posited that a material medium was unnecessary to the making of art, Conceptualism 2.0 features artworks that are transmedial, that place the aesthetic experience itself deliberately at the boundary between often incommensurable media. The result, Stewart shows, is art whose forced convergences break open new possibilities that are wholly surprising, intellectually enlightening, and often uncanny.

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Book SynopsisLary May offers a reexamination of the connections between national politics and Hollywood movies, and an interpretation of American culture from the New Deal through the Cold War.Trade Review"The most exhilarating work of revisionist film history since Pauline Kael's 'Citizen Kane'... It's been a long time since the world of film has received as invigoratingly coherent an overview as May's." - Jay Carr, Boston Globe "One of the best books ever written about the movies." - Tom Ryan, The Age "A startling, revisionist history of Hollywood's impact on politics and American culture.... A convincing and important addition to American cultural criticism." - Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisA study of Hollywood gangster films. This book examines their controversial content and how it was subjected to continual moral and political censure. Combining film analysis with archival material, the study shows how the industry circumvented censure.

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Book SynopsisLeo Bersani, known for his provocative interrogations of psychoanalysis, sexuality, and the human body, centers his latest book on a surprisingly simple image: a newborn baby simultaneously crying out and drawing its first breath. These twin ideasabsorption and expulsion, the intake of physical and emotional nourishment and the exhalation of breathform the backbone of Receptive Bodies, a thoughtful new essay collection. These titular bodies range from fetuses in utero to fully eroticized adults, all the way to celestial giants floating in space. Bersani illustrates his exploration of the body's capacities to receive and resist what is ostensibly alien using a typically eclectic set of sources, from literary icons like Marquis de Sade to cinematic provocateurs such as Bruno Dumont and Lars von Trier. This sharp and wide-ranging book will excite scholars of Freud, Foucault, and film studies, or anyone who has ever stopped to ponder the give and take of human corporeality.

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