Individual film directors Books

Book SynopsisDiscover the secrets of Christopher Nolan's Tenet with this exclusive behind-the-scenes look at 2020's most anticipated film. In 2020, director Christopher Nolan returns with Tenet, an action epic evolving from the world of international espionage. This deluxe book takes fans through the full creative journey that brought Tenet to the screen, from the genesis of Nolan's uniquely imaginative script through to the cutting edge techniques used to realise the film's innovative action sequences. Featuring exclusive interviews with the director and his crew, including producer Emma Thomas and production designer Nathan Crowley, The Making of Tenet is a can't-miss companion to Nolan's thrilling new masterpiece.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“It’s gossipy and funny and sometimes wistful and sad, but it’s page-turning. . . . For a film lover like me, Alright, Alright, Alright is an endless feast of facts and revelations. I’m gonna guess that for the casual filmgoer (and even someone who’s never seen Dazed and Confused) it will be fascinating just for the thrill of reading older people looking back with joy, bewilderment and sometimes anger at a time when they were not only young, but when their youth blazed.” — Patton Oswalt, New York Times Book Review “The story of Dazed and Confused has been told before, but never with the depth, breadth, or remarkable reproduction of the film’s conversational rhythms found in Melissa Maerz’s new oral history. . . . Like Linklater’s depiction of the last day of school circa 1976, Maerz’s book envelops readers in time and place. But while the movie’s more of a snapshot, Alright, Alright, Alright is a panorama, enriched by deep background…. It’s a class reunion that doesn’t suck, attended by almost all of the living principals.” — AV Club “[Maerz] does a lot more than just weave the oral history behind a famous movie. She makes it feel like the story of a generation….. This book does for the Nineties what the movie did for the Seventies: a lovingly detailed portrait of an era, celebratory but inevitably elegiac, full of tiny comic moments that seem to sum up the decade’s craziest hopes and dreams…. Like the movie, the book is pure pleasure because makes you feel like you’re hanging out with these friends—it’s a joy to jump and join them on a slow ride.” — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone “A charming oral history of everyone’s favorite stoner film. . . . Essential for fans of the film but also for anyone with ambitions to work in film on either side of the camera.” — Kirkus, starred review “Fun reading, enhanced by veteran entertainment journalist Maerz’s expert chapter introductions and many, well-organized conversations with everyone from Linklater to the stars to the film crew. But Alright, Alright, Alright is also an interesting peek into the many relationships that must be navigated in the making of a film, and a surprising foray into the nature of memory and nostalgia. A must for fans of the movie and readers interested in the moviemaking experience.” — Booklist, starred review “Thorough, funny, and bittersweet.” — Texas Monthly “Touches on the volatility of young artists, the hormones of youthful performers, the conflicts between corporate and artistic stakeholders, the ways our entertainment is presented to us and how we consume it. The book, like the film, is a story about time. ... One of the joys in Alright, Alright, Alright is the perspective Maerz attains with the time that has passed since the making of “Dazed,” as well as its release, its lukewarm reception and its long-tail embrace. Her book becomes less specifically tied to the film and more about how time affects all of us after adolescence.” — Houston Chronicle “An at times humorous chronicle of how a small film became a touchstone of 1990s cinema, with introspective analysis of directing techniques, casting, and performance. . . . Linklater devotees, those who love Dazed and Confused, and anyone interested in 1990s indie film will appreciate Maerz’s detailed tribute.” — Library Journal “An intricate oral history… any cinephile would be happy to check out.” — Publishers Weekly

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Book Synopsis'A story of courage, heart, of coming back for more, of love and struggle and the power of both' Joseph O'ConnorA No.1 bestseller, It's Not Yet Dark is an unforgettable book about relationships and family, about what connects and separates us as people and, ultimately, about what it means to be alive.Trade ReviewIf you are hungry for truth and beauty, read this book * Roisin Ingle, The Irish Times *Sparsely and beautifully written...the human spirit and will to live shines out of these pages...By the time you reach the end of this book, with tears of admiration, sadness and frustration in your eyes, the question is no longer why would you want to live...but how could you not * Irish Independent *An unforgettable read about what it means to be alive * Woman's Way magazine *[It's Not Yet Dark is] a demonstration of a will to live that is breathtaking...There's a rhythm of immediacy that feels like a still-beating heart whose strength is beyond admirable. It is a work of a documentary poetry...an extraordinary read * The Herald *Part memoir, part stark document of the way [Simon] and his family have dealt with motor neuron disease, and part fierce celebration of being alive, It's Not Yet Dark is powerful, gripping and compelling * The Irish Times *The word 'inspirational' is over-used, but if ever a book deserved this epithet, this is it * Sunday Independent *[A] gripping, affecting, sometimes funny read by a natural-born storyteller with something to say about the weight and the value of a life...If you need a story of courage, of heart, of coming back for more, of love and struggle and the power of both, It's Not Yet Dark could be the elusive thing you're after * Joseph O'Connor *Beautifully written...utterly life-affirming * Alan Rickman *Crystal clear, radiating all the things that we aspire toward. A beautiful love story * Colin Farrell *

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Book SynopsisInspired by the fabled journals in which acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro records his innermost thoughts and unleashes his vivid imagination, Insight Editions has created a replica sketchbook aimed at the director's legion of fans. Similar in design to del Toro's leather-bound volumes, this sketchbook features an inspirational message from the director along with selected examples of his incredible art.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAn imaginatively written self-reflexive academic's journey through the films of Kitano Takeshi. -- Isolde Standish, School of Oriental and African Studies A bold and provocative attempt at pinning down this most mercurial and misunderstood of Japanese directors. -- Jasper Sharp, Midnight Eye The depth of engagement with the films and the director within The Cinema of Takeshi Kitano ensures a complex reading of Kitano's cinema... An excellent book for anyone interested in Japanese culture, screen media and theory. More than this, The Cinema of Takeshi Kitano... is (like Kitano's cinema) an evocative and powerful contribution to film culture. -- Wendy Haslem, The University of Melbourne Senses of CinemaTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: Becoming Lost in Tokyo 1. Time, Space and Whatever 2. Flowering Blood 3. Intense Alterity 4. Starring Kitanos 5. This is the Sea Conclusion: Standing Outside Office Kitano Postscript: I Welcome the Pain of it Already Filmography Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewColin Burnett's The Invention of Robert Bresson is a breathtaking act of scholarship. The portrait of Bresson that emerges here, in biographical, cultural and aesthetic terms, is the most complete one that we have to date and will likely ever see. Burnett is as concerned to trace Bresson's relation to figures like Max Ernst as he is to show us just how deep Bresson's involvement was with Coco Chanel and the world of advertising. This is not the Bresson most of us have imagined. But even beyond the book's contribution to Bresson scholarship and French film studies, which is already considerable, Burnett offers us a new way of thinking about what he calls "a cultural marketplace," a mode of inquiry that will invigorate single author studies by way of the painstaking detail Burnett's model gives to the aesthetic and industrial forces at work at the various stages in an auteur's development, which inform, but do not determine in any simple way, the kind of decisions that a filmmaker is forced to make. For those of us who believe in the importance of single author studies, this book comes as a massive breath of fresh air. For those of you who believe auteurism has run its course, I dare you to read The Invention of Robert Bresson. It will not be easy, I predict, to maintain your resistance. -- Brian PriceColin Burnett keeps historical questions front and center as he explains Bresson's creative role within the lively cultural marketplace of post-WWII French cinema. The Invention of Robert Bresson goes beyond the confines of the usual auteur study, revealing the many innovative ways that Bresson promoted his personal style, while also participating fully in the artistic and critical context of his era. Burnett re-energizes our interest in this rewarding auteur and his place within a rich, unprecedented cinéphilia. -- Richard NeupertAn essential book for those interested in cinema authorship, French film and visual culture, and the iconoclastic Robert Bresson. Burnett's bold intervention takes Bresson down off his marble plinth and makes him a flesh-and-blood practitioner once again, in fierce conversation with the artistic and industrial situations that nourished his work. Burnett's real achievement is to make us look at Bresson—and postwar French cinema in all its troubled creative ferment—profoundly anew again. -- Tim PalmerFrench director Robert Bresson is celebrated among cinephiles for his distinctively spare films, and with this volume Burnett contributes considerably to the scholarship on this auteur. . . . Essential. * Choice *Burnett offers us an important contribution to work on Bresson, which signicantly expands and complements existing, more tex trather-than-context-bound studies. * French Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart One: Alternative Institutions1. Under the Aegis of Surrealism: How a Publicity Artist Became the Manager of an Independent Film Company2. The Rise of the Accursed: When Bresson was Co-President of an Avant-Garde Ciné-ClubPart Two: Vanguard Forms3. Purifying Cinema: The Provocations of Faithful Adaptation and First-Person Storytelling in "Ignace de Loyola" (1948) and Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951)4. Theorizing the Image: Bresson's Challenge to the Realists—Sparse Set Design, Acting and Photography from Les anges du péché (1943) to Une femme douce (1969)5. Vernacularizing Rhythm: Bresson and the Shift Toward Dionysian Temporalities—Plot Structure and Editing from Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951) to L'argent (1983)AfterwordSelected BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe golden age of German cinema began at the end of the First World War and ended shortly after the coming of sound. This book demonstrates the connection between German Romanticism and the cinema through Expressionist writings.Trade Review"A sumptuous meal for those interested in the dark and brooding days of German cinema." * Cinema Journal *"Arguably one of the best books on cinema yet written." * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsForeword to the English language edition 1 The Predisposition towards Expressionism 2 The Beginnings of the Expressionist Film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari; Genuine; Von Morgens bis Mitternachts; Torgus; Raskolnikow 3 The Spell of Light: the Influence of Max Reinhardt The Student of Prague (1913); Max Reinhardt; The Go/em (1920); Die Chronik Pon Grieshuus; Vanina; Carl Boese on the special effects for The Go/em 4 Lubitsch and the Costume Film !vfadame Dubarry; Sumurun; Anna Boleyn; Danton; Othello; Pola Negri 5 The Stylized Fantastic Der Miide Tod 6 The Symphonies of Horror Nosferatu; the demoniac bourgeois; the sway of the Doppelgiinger 7 'Decorative· Expressionism Waxworks; the concept of space; the obsession with corridors and staircases; Paul Leni on set designing 8 The World of Shadows and Mirrors Warning Shadows; the Expressionist actor 9 Studio Architecture and Landscape Die Nibelungen; geometric grouping 10 The Expressionist Debut of a 'Realistic' Director Der Schatz 11 Kammerspielfilm and Stimmung Hintertreppe; Scherben; Sylvester; Paul Czinner; Elisabeth Bergner; Stimmung 12 Murnau and the Kammerspielfilm The Last Laugh; the mobile camera 13 The Handling of Crowds Metropolis; the influence of the Expressionist choruses and Piscator 14 The Fritz Lang Thriller Die Spinnen; Dr Mabuse der Spieler; Spione; Die Frau im Mond 15 Tragedies of the Street Die Strasse; The joyless Street; Asta Nielsen; Dirnentragiidie; the Absolute film; Asphalt 16 The Evolution of the Costume Film Tartuffe 17 The Eye of the Camera in E.A. Dupont Das Alte Gesetz; Variety 18 The Climax of the Chiaroscuro Faust 19 Pabst and the Miracle of Louise Brooks Pandora's Box; Diary of a Lost Girl; Censorship and Pabst's realism 20 The Decline of the German Film The coming of sound; Die Dreigroschenoper; M; Das Testament des Dr Mabuse; Miidchen in Uniform; the Ufa style; Leni Riefenstahl; the post-Nazi era Appendix: The Dreigroschenoper Lawsuit Principal Works Mentioned in the Text Selective Filmography, 1913-33 Index Sources of Illustrations

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Book Synopsis''Joseph Mcbride''s book has the sweep, passion, complexity and tragic grandeur of a great John Ford film - it should be compulsory reading.'' Martin ScorseseJohn Ford''s many classic movies - among them Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - earned him worldwide praise and renown. Now Joseph McBride presents us with the definitive account of the man''s myriad complexities and contradictions, tracing Ford''s life from his modest beginnings as ''Bull'' Feeney, the nearsighted football-playing son of Irish immigrants in Maine, to his recognition, after a long, controversial, and much-decorated career, as America''s national myth-maker. This deeply insightful and impeccably documented narrative is the epic tribute that Ford''s stature merits.

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Book SynopsisDuring the 1920s and '30s, Mexico attracted an international roster of artists and intellectuals - including Orson Welles, Katherine Anne Porter, and Leon Trotsky. This book covers the years that the renowned Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein spent in the country to work on his controversial film Que Viva Mexico!

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Book SynopsisThe definitive history of Peter Jackson's Middle-earth saga, Anything You Can Imagine takes us on a cinematic journey across all six films, featuring brand-new interviews with Peter, his cast & crew. From the early days of daring to dream it could be done, through the highs and lows of making the films, to fan adoration and, finally, Oscar glory.LightsA nine-year-old boy in New Zealand's Pukerua Bay stays up late and is spellbound by a sixty-year-old vision of a giant ape on an island full of dinosaurs. This is true magic. And the boy knows that he wants to be a magician.CameraFast-forward twenty years and the boy has begun to cast a spell over the film-going audience, conjuring gore-splattered romps with bravura skill that will lead to Academy recognition with an Oscar nomination for Heavenly Creatures. The boy from Pukerua Bay with monsters reflected in his eyes has arrived, and Hollywood comes calling. What would he like to do next? How about a fantasy film, something like The Lord of the Rings?'ActionThe greatest work of fantasy in modern literature, and the biggest, with rights ownership so complex it will baffle a wizard. Vast. Complex. Unfilmable. One does not simply walk into Mordor unless you are Peter Jackson.Anything You Can Imagine tells the full, dramatic story of how Jackson and his trusty fellowship of Kiwi filmmakers dared take on a quest every bit as daunting as Frodo's, and transformed JRR Tolkien's epic tale of adventure into cinematic magic, and then did it again with The Hobbit. Enriched with brand-new interviews with Jackson, his fellow filmmakers and many of the films' stars, Ian Nathan's mesmerising narrative whisks us to Middle-earth, to gaze over the shoulder of the director as he creates the impossible, the unforgettable, and proves that film-making really is anything you can imagine'.Trade Review‘This book truly is the definitive history of the Lord of the Rings films. Nearly every single element of the productions is coverd here, from writing, to shooting, to Oscar-night jitters. Nathan’s prose does exactly what you want from a book like this: it makes you feel as if you’re really there.’SlashFilm ‘In breezy and often cheeky prose, Nathan tells a grand story worthy of the annals of great filmmaking… there is much to learn, to chuckle over and to admire as Jackson and his band of indefatigable Kiwis face down the naysayers.’Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisNOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES, featuring interviews with Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and Guillermo del ToroBefore the Second World War the Hollywood box office was booming, but the business was accused of being too foreign, too Jewish, too 'un-American'. Then the war changed everything. With Pearl Harbor came the opportunity for Hollywood to prove its critics wrong.America's most legendary directors played a huge role in the war effort: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. Between them they shaped the public perception of almost every major moment of the war. With characteristic insight and expert knowledge Harris tells the untold story of how Hollywood changed World War II, and how World War II changed Hollywood.Trade ReviewThe bombs fall on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Hollywood rolls up its sleeves and swaps the diplomatic velvet glove for the patriotic steel fist . . . A story well worth telling * * Observer * *A captivating history . . . makes you want to revisit many of the films * * Daily Telegraph * *Mark Harris conducts a fastidious investigation into the five top filmmakers who put their careers on hold to help the war effort . . . Fascinating * * Total Film * *Harris deftly threads the story of each man into the wider canvases of Hollywood and the war * * Scotland on Sunday * *Gripping . . . reveals how an elite squad of Hollywood's greatest directors recorded the bravest - and bloodiest - actions of World War II * * Mail on Sunday * *Tough-minded, information-packed and irresistibly readable * * New York Times * *Can't-put-it-down history of the World War II propaganda film * * San Francisco Chronicle * *Harris has a huge story to tell, and he does so brilliantly . . . an inspirational, if cautionary, tale of the triumph of the individual over the collective, of personal vision over groupthink, and ultimately of art over propaganda * * Wall Street Journal * *Harris is a lively commentator, and a master weaver of multifarious threads * * Empire * *Impeccably researched and irresistibly entertaining * * Belfast Telegraph * *Full of colourful anecdotes about the golden age of Hollywood as well as unflinching descriptions of what the directors faced on the frontline, the 500-plus pages just fly by. This would make a great movie... * * Aberdeen Evening Express * *This is as epic an undertaking as those historical Hollywood sagas of the '30s and '40s, including anecdotes from this golden age of film * * Good Book Guide * *I enjoyed the honesty of this book. It opened my eyes * * The Truth About Lies * *A startling account of how five exemplary film-makers (John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler, Frank Capra) enlisted in every branch of the US forces, only to return, deeply moved and changed, to approach cinema in new ways * * Financial Times * *

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Book SynopsisFrederick Wiseman has made films that together form a monumental chronicle of late twentieth-century institutional and cultural life. This title provides a comprehensive overview of Wiseman's work (including projects for theatre and opera), featuring original essays by a variety of writers, critics, filmmakers and actors, and by Wiseman himself.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first collection of original critical essays devoted to exploring the misunderstood, neglected and frequently caricatured role played by the film producer. The editors'' introduction provides a conceptual and methodological overview, arguing that the producer''s complex and multifaceted role is crucial to a film''s success or failure. The collection is divided into three sections where detailed individual essays explore a broad range of contrasting producers working in different historical, geographical, generic and industrial contexts. Rather than suggest there is a single type of producer, the collection analyses the rich variety of roles producers play, providing fascinating and informative insights into how the film industry actually works. This groundbreaking collection challenges several of the conventional orthodoxies of film studies, providing a new approach that will become required reading for scholars and students.Trade ReviewThis will prove an invaluable book, both to students and to those wishing to learn more about the film and media industries. Its spread is broad, making comparisons between different countries, practices and genres, and yet its intellectual focus is precise and well-conceived. The work of the producer has received scant attention in the past, and this important book rectifies that, and in a thorough, sophisticated and approachable way. Not to be missed. * Sue Harper, Emeritus Professor of Film History, University of Portsmouth, UK *A pioneering and timely volume emphasizing historical and transnational perspectives, Beyond the Bottom Line brings the myths and realities of the producer’s many roles into clear focus. Offering well developed case studies and conceptual clarification, the contributors deepen and extend the ongoing conversation about practitioner’s agency in thoughtful and productive ways. * Mette Hjort, Chair Professor of Visual Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong *This long-overdue scholarly collection represents an important step forward in the study of the role of the movie producer. Beyond the Bottom Line is a welcome addition to the burgeoning literature of production and industry studies. Its broad range of critical case studies will be a valuable resource to researchers and students alike. * Julian Hoxter, Screenwriting Coordinator, San Francisco State University, USA, and editor of Screenwriting *Table of ContentsTable of Contents List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements 1. Introduction – Andrew Spicer, A.T. McKenna and Christopher Meir Part I – Theoretical and Historical Contexts 2. Joe Kember, University of Exeter, UK, “A Judge of Anything and Everything”: Charles Urban and the Role of the “Producer-Collaborator” in Early British Film 3. Audun Engelstad and Jo Sondre Moseng, Lillehammer University College, Norway, Mapping a Typology of the Film Producer – Or, Six Producers in Search of an Author 4. Andrew Spicer, University of the West of England, UK, The Independent Producer and the State: Simon Relph, Government Policy and the British Film Industry, 1980-2005 5. Paul Long, Birmingham City University, UK and Simon Spink, UK, Producing the Self: The Film Producer’s Labor and Professional Identity in the UK Creative Economy 6. Pauline Small, Queen Mary, University of London, UK, Producer and Director? Or, “Authorship” in 1950s Italian Cinema 7. Mark David Ryan, Ben Goldsmith, and Stuart Cunningham, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, and Deb Verhoeven, Deakin University, Australia, The Australian Screen Producer in Transition Part II – Media and Genre Contexts 8. Donna Kornhaber, University of Texas at Austin, USA, The Producer in Animation: Creativity and Commerce from Bray Studios to Pixar 9. Brett Mills and Sarah Ralph, University of East Anglia, UK, “Trying to Ride a Naughty Horse”: British Television Comedy Producers 10. Sonia Friel, Norwich University of the Arts, UK, Keith Griffiths’ Poetics of Production 11. James Lyons, University of Exeter, UK, The American Independent Producer and the Film Value Chain Part III – National and Transnational Contexts 12. Constanza Burucúa, Western University, Canada, Lita Stantic: Auteur Producer/Producer of Auteurs 13. A.T. McKenna, University of Nottingham, China, Beyond National Humiliation: Han Sanping and China’s Post-Olympics Historical Event Blockbusters 14. Gertjan Willems, Ghent University, Belgium, The Producer in Belgian Cinema(s): The Case of Jean (and Jan) Van Raemdonck 15. Christopher Meir, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, Post-Imperial Co-Producers: Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Contemporary Anglo-Australian Cinema

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Book SynopsisNow a major motion picture, The Disaster Artist, starring James Franco, Alison Brie, Zoey Deutch, Lizzy Caplan, Zac Efron, Bryan Cranston, Dave Franco, Kristen Bell, Seth Rogen, Sharon Stone, and Judd Apatow.In 2003, an independent film called The Room - starring and written, produced, and directed by a mysteriously wealthy social misfit named Tommy Wiseau - made its disastrous debut in Los Angeles. Described by one reviewer as ''like getting stabbed in the head'', the $6 million film earned a grand total of $1,800 at the box office and closed after two weeks. Over a decade later, The Room is an international cult phenomenon, whose legions of fans attend screenings featuring costumes, audience rituals, merchandising and thousands of plastic spoons. In The Disaster Artist, Greg Sestero, Tommy''s costar, recounts the film''s bizarre journey to infamy, explaining how the movie''s many nonsensical scenes and bits of dialogue came to be Trade ReviewFinally, a hilarious, delusional, and weirdly inspirational explanation for the most deliciously awful movie ever madeA great portrayal of hopefuls coming to Los Angeles to pursue their ambitions, and an even greater examination of what it means to be a creative person with a dream and trying to make it come true....In so many ways. Tommy c'est moiThe Disaster Artist is not only the terrifically engaging tale of a bad Hollywood movie, it's one of the most honest books about friendship I've read in years - Los Angeles TimesA book about a cinematic comedy of errors . . . sharply detailed . . . funny - New York TimesPossibly the most important piece of literature ever printed - The Huffington PostI laughed so hard reading The Disaster Artist that I cried - Rolling Stone

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Book Synopsis'The life-affirming expression of an artist engaged in living to the full' The Times Smiling in Slow Motion is Derek Jarman's last journal, stretching from May 1991 until a fortnight before his death in February 1994. Jarman writes with his trademark humour and candour about friends and enemies, as he races through his final years of film-making, gardening and radical political protest. Written from Jarman's Charing Cross Road flat, his famed garden at Dungeness, and finally from his bed in St Bartholomew's Hospital, Jarman meditates on his own deteriorating health and the loss of his contemporaries. Yet Smiling in Slow Motion is not simply a chronicle of illness and regret: it is, at its heart, one of endeavour, determination and pride.WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY NEIL BARTLETTTrade ReviewGossipy, candid, funny, and, as Jarman’s illness takes hold, powerfully moving * Choice Magazine *Present on every page is the creative sparkle and compellingly generous spirit of a man who was in every way an uncompromising individual * The Times *In these diaries... the artist and film director emerges as a down-to-earth visionary... this perceptive and enjoyable work is something of a miracle * Independent *For all his anger, Jarman never seems brutalised. He retains his humanity and his good humour. His is a wonderfully garrulous, mercurial, polymathic daemon * Literary Review *Jarman [is] the sort of troublemaking visionary who one day may be compared with Blake -- John Gill * Time Out *

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Book SynopsisFrom their first film in 1963, Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet distinguished themselves as two of Europe's most inventive, generous, and uncompromising filmmakers. From Machorka-Muff (1963) through These Encounters of Theirs (2006), and in the subsequent solo work of Jean-Marie Straub, they developed groundbreaking and unique approaches to film adaptation, performance, sound recording, cinematography, and translation in films made across Germany, Italy, and France – including such modern classics as The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1967), Moses and Aaron (1974), Class Relations (1983), and Sicilia! (1999). On the occasion of the first complete North American retrospective of their films in more than two decades, this volume traces the history of Straub's and Huillet's work, placing their films in the specific cultural, linguistic, and critical contexts in which they were produced and providing an account of their distribution and reception in the English-speaking world.Trade ReviewFat and full of ideas and information. -- David Bordwell * Observations on Film Art *[A] showcase of the film making practice as a true labor of love. -- Film QuarterlyFendt's volume is an immensely useful tool for framing and enhancing the duo's notoriously austere, 'difficult' films...A comprehensive and superbly detailed filmography concludes the book, solidifying its status as a newly crucial resource for devout Straubians and casual auditors alike. -- Cinema Scope

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Book SynopsisA richly illustrated journey through the extraordinary cinematic worlds of beloved filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki A New York Magazine 2021 holiday gift guide pick For over four decades, Hayao Miyazaki has been enchanting audiences of all ages. His animated films, often featuring children navigating unfamiliar and challenging worlds, offer timeless explorations of youth and what it means to grow up. Celebrated and admired around the globe for his artistic vision, craftsmanship and deeply humanistic values, Miyazaki has influenced generations of artists. The universal appeal of his evocative natural settings and complex characters, many among them strong girls and young women, cuts across cultural boundaries. This book is published on the occasion of the 2021 inaugural exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, in collaboration with Studio Ghibli in Tokyo. It accompanies the first ever retrospective dedicated to the legendary filmmaker in North America and introduces hundreds of original production materials, including artworks never before seen outside of Studio Ghibli’s archives. Concept sketches, character designs, storyboards, layouts, backgrounds and production cels from his early career through all 11 of his feature films, including My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001) and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), offer insight into Miyazaki’s creative process and masterful animation techniques.Trade ReviewAlmost too beautiful to be true. -- Jyni Ong * It's Nice That *the book is artistic biography, aesthetic treatise, creative process explication, and celebration of the filmmaker’s work. -- W. Scott Olsen * Frames *"much more than a collection of film stills and includes layout drawings, storyboards, production design drawings, key animation sets, maps, backgrounds, and even translations of notes etched into the drawings. The work speaks for itself, and Miyazaki’s brilliant imagination is on full display; it’s a peek behind the curtain that many will savor" -- Matthew Sorrento * Film International *Will satisfy all your Ghibli needs... Fans can piece together Miyazaki’s aesthetic process from all 11 of his feature films. -- Shawn Ghassemitari * Hypebeast *A considerable work itself: a treasure for fans of the animator and Studio Ghibli, and a wonderful history, art, and reference piece for students of film and animation. * Anime News Network *Published in partnership with Studio Ghibli, “Hayao Miyazaki” will be available starting Sept. 7 and is set to include hundreds of original production materials, including artworks never seen outside of Studio Ghibli’s archives -- Pat Saperstein * Variety *

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Book SynopsisA poetic meditation on life and death, by one of the most renowned and respected film-makers and intellectuals of our time. In November 1974, when Werner Herzog was told that his mentor Lotte Eisner, the film-maker and critic, was dying in Paris, he set off to walk there from Munich, ‘in full faith, believing that she would stay alive if I came on foot’. Along the way he recorded what he saw, how he felt, and what he experienced, from the physical discomfort of the journey to moments of rapture. It is a remarkable narrative – part pilgrimage, part meditation, and a confrontation between a great German Romantic imagination and the contemporary world. This edition of the book is being published for the first time as a classic piece of proto-psychogeography, to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the legendary director’s walk.Trade Review'Surely the strangest, strongest walking book I know, it tells the story of a winter pilgrimage, made in desperation and in hope. At once a diary, a blizzard of weather and memories, and the record of a ritual: only Herzog could have written this weird, slender classic.' Robert Macfarlane * Robert Macfarlane *Herzog's pilgrimage is a fugue and an absurdist comedy as rich as anything in his cinema'. Iain Sinclair * Iain Sinclair *

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Book SynopsisMalcolm Turvey examines Jacques Tati’s unique comedic style and evaluates its significance for the history of film and modernism. Richly illustrated with images from the director’s films, Play Time offers an illuminating and original understanding of Tati’s work.Trade ReviewTurvey provides a sharply observant account of the scope and function of the more ‘cognitively challenging’ of these comic devices in Tati’s major films. -- David Trotter * London Review of Books *Turvey’s study of Tati’s context traces a fascinating continuity between the clown tradition, Charlie Chaplin’s construction of comic personas and the role of the 'living object' in Dada, Surrealism, Cubism and other interwar artistic movements. * Times Literary Supplement *Play Time is a subtle, intelligent—and wonderfully funny—book. It has much to offer both Tati novices and his connoisseurs. -- Pardis Dabashi * Modernism/modernity *The book is a delicious treat, and serious film students will appreciate it as a penetrating primer on the cinematic comic artisdt at work. * Choice *Play Time: Jacques Tati and Comedic Modernism must be warmly recommended reading for all lovers of Tati, particularly since it is written by one of them, which shows. And my recommendation gets only warmer for all those who, like myself, are interested in understanding comedy and its mechanisms. -- Gianni Barchiesi * Alphaville Journal *Malcolm Turvey’s exhilarating study of Jacques Tati is a precise, loving appreciation of the unique style and worldview of a great filmmaker. It’s also a history of avant-garde humor and a deep analysis of techniques of slapstick and satire. Turvey, one of our finest scholars of modernity in the arts, shows in detail how Tati’s comedy turned modernist experimentation into popular entertainment. -- David Bordwell, author of Reinventing Hollywood: How 1940s Filmmakers Changed Movie StorytellingMalcolm Turvey’s Play Time is the best extended critical study of Tati I’ve encountered: persuasively argued, scrupulously observed, and beautifully illustrated. The writing is clear and graceful, and the research is impressive, especially regarding the relation of slapstick films to avant-garde movements of the early twentieth century and Tati’s critiques of modern architecture. Most critical books about Tati have been short on close analysis, but this one beats them all. -- Jonathan Rosenbaum, author of Cinematic Encounters: Interviews and DialoguesFew films deserve a book-length study as much as those of Jacques Tati. Malcolm Turvey has done them justice. His explanation of their context in the slapstick and modernist traditions is fascinating. Turvey takes Tati’s work seriously, not by spoiling the fun but by respecting its extraordinary complexity. His title comes from Tati’s masterpiece. No matter how many times you have seen Play Time—and it is a film made for many viewings—Turvey will reveal something new and make you want to see it yet again. -- Kristin Thompson, Honorary Fellow in the Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-MadisonThis book is an excellent, detailed study of the films of Jacques Tati that establishes how Tati’s work draws upon classical “comedian comedy” while also connecting with the interwar European avant-garde. Moreover, the author insightfully discusses Tati’s love/hate relationship with modernity as well as his passion for creating a participatory style in which the spectator works to find humor in his films and also in the real world. -- Lucy Fischer, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of PittsburghMalcolm Turvey’s Play Time is a completely joyful and entirely refreshing account of the films of Jacques Tati. It is also one of the finest, most nuanced accounts of comedic form that we have, a work that no one who studies comedy, or simply enjoys it, should be without. In tending so carefully to the structure of Tati’s gags—a seemingly infinite amount of them—Turvey does something that is as extraordinary as it is subtle. With Tati, he shows us how intelligence and popularity, structure and participation, aesthetic excellence and ordinary life, cannot be easily or gainfully opposed. -- Brian Price, University of TorontoTable of ContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Comedic Modernism2. Comedy of Everyday Life3. The Beholder’s Share4. Satirizing ModernityAfterword: Parade, Tati, and Participatory CultureNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisProviding a clear, systematic account of the evolution of Bellour's thought on the nature of cinematic representation, the impact of digital technology and the response of the spectator, this is an essential guide to the work of a major contemporary thinker.

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Book SynopsisThe book offers a radical rethinking of Michelangelo Antonioni's work. It argues against prevalent understandings of it in terms of both cinematic purity and indebtedness to painting.

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Book SynopsisTenet is a global thriller whose action stretches across time zones, and stars Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki and John David Washington.

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Book Synopsis Brilliantly illustrated and designed by the London–based film magazine Little White Lies, Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema examines the career of the South Korean writer/director who has been making critically acclaimed feature films for more than two decades. First breaking out into the international scene with festival-favorite Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), Bong then set his sights on the story of a real-life serial killer in 2003’s Memories of Murder and once again won strong international critical attention. But it was 2006’s The Host that proved to be a huge breakout moment both for Bong and the Korean film industry. The monster movie, set in Seoul, premiered at Cannes and became an instant hit—South Korea’s widest release ever, setting new box office records and selling remake rights in the US to Universal. Bong’s next feature, Mother (2009), also premiered at Cannes

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Book SynopsisGo behind the scenes of DreamWorks Animation's smart,hilarious comedy The Boss Baby. This beautifully illustratedbook includes a wide range of colorful development art,storyboards and character sketches, as well as in-depthinterviews with director Tom McGrath, writer MichaelMcCullers, producer Ramsey Naito, plus key members ofthe storyboard, visual development, visual effects, CGanimation, modeling and layout departments.

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Book SynopsisPeter Cowie's book chronicles the life and the 60-year film and stage career of Bergman as he wrestles of themes of love, sex and betrayal with the figure of Death hovering overhead.Blending biographical information with critical comment, Cowie presents a man whose life and work were intimately fused.Bergman's films stand alone as beacons in film history.' Wim Wenders

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Book SynopsisASTEROID CITY (adapted from a hypothetical play) takes place in a fictional desert town, circa 1955. Synopsis: the itinerary of the annual Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events. A theatrical ensemble character piece; a poetic meditation on the meaning of life.The film stars Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Margot Robbie, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, and Jake Ryan, among others.In addition to the screenplay, the book contains a gallery of colour images, and a conversation about the film with Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, and Jake Ryan.

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Book SynopsisThe definitive illustrated retrospective on the Oscar-winning director of some of the most resonant and enduring films of all time. For more than five decades, Steven Spielberg has created inspiring, exciting and unforgettable movie magic. Jaws, E.T., the Indiana Jones series, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan and West Side Story are among the many favourites that have thrilled cinema audiences all over the world. They are some of the highest-grossing, most captivating and enduring films of all time contemporary classics that indelibly remain part of our lives. This timely retrospective celebrates more than fifty years of Steven Spielberg's boundless energy and his unwavering commitment to excellence in all areas of his work. Drawing on his many first-person interviews, distinguished writer and critic Richard Schickel provides unique insight on every one of Spielberg's thirty-four major movies. Including a personal foreword by the direct

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Book SynopsisIn a comprehensively revised and updated new edition, James Naremore provides an illuminating critical account of the films of Stanley Kubrick, from his earliest feature, Fear and Desire (1953), to the posthumously-produced A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001). Naremore offers provocative analyses of each of Kubrick's films, considering his emphasis on the absurdity of combat, as in Paths of Glory (1957) and Full Metal Jacket (1987), the failure of scientific reasoning, as in 2001 (1968), and the fascistic impulses in masculine sexuality, as in Dr Strangelove (1964) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). He argues that while Kubrick was a voracious intellectual and a life-long autodidact, the fascination of his work has less to do with the ideas it espouses than with the emotions it evokes. Combining close readings with new insights into the production histories and cultural contexts of key films, Naremore provides a concise yet thorough discussion that will be useful to students of Kubrick's filmmaking and cinephiles who seek a deeper insight into the work of this perfectionist genius. Revised throughout, this new edition also includes a fully updated bibliography of critical writings on Kubrick's cinema.Table of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgements for the Revised Edition Acknowledgements for the First Edition Introduction to the New Edition: Kubrick’s Cold Modernism and Major Themes PART I Prologue 1. Portrait of the Late Modernist as a Young Photographer 2. Silence, Exile and Cunning 3. Grotesque Aesthetics PART II Early Kubrick 1. No Other Country but the Mind 2. Dream City PART III Kubrick, Harris, Douglas 1. The Criminal and the Artist 2. Ant Hill 3. Dolores, Lady of Pain PART IV Stanley Kubrick Presents 1. Wargasm 2. Beyond the Stars 3. A Professional Piece of Sinny 4. Duelist 5. Horrorshow PART V Late Kubrick 1. Warriors 2. Lovers PART VI Epilogue 1. Summation 2. Some Unproduced Films 3. Love and Death in A. I. Artificial Intelligence Filmography Select Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisMichael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were true visionaries of British cinema, creating glorious Technicolor masterpieces including A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948). Delving into their magical and obsessive worlds, this lavishly-illustrated publication presents fresh perspectives on the filmmaking duo, shining the spotlight not only on them, but also on their circle of talented collaborators. Thelma Schoonmaker, Caitlin McDonald, Alexandra Harris, Mahesh Rao, Sarah Street, Ian Christie and Marina Warner write about the key figures who shared Powell and Pressburger’s creative journey, and Tilda Swinton, Tim Walker, Sarah Greenwood, Michelle Williams Gamaker, Sandy Powell, Joanna Hogg and Stephen Jones reflect on the ways in which Powell and Pressburger’s stories and images have haunted and inspired them in their own work. The Cinema of Powell and Pressburger draws on the BFI’s stunning design and archive collections, as well as key objects held in other public and private collections.Trade ReviewThis book is a pleasure to read, full of generous appreciations of Powell and Pressburger’s work from a multitude of personal angles. -- Philip Kemp * Sight & Sound *A lavish volume. -- Robin Ashenden * The Spectator *A richly illustrated book … Alongside the films themselves, this splendid book is testament to a unique creative collaboration. -- Jacqueline Riding * The Art Newspaper *The Cinema of Powell and Pressburger raids the BFI’s archive to provide definitive visual gloss on the partnership’s career. Gorgeous paintings from the production-design teams. Reproductions of pages from Powell’s diary revealing his immaculately vertical penmanship. Lavish promotional stills that work subtle variations on the moving images. No coffee table is complete without it. -- Donald Clake * The Irish Times *A superb acknowledgement of the powerfully collaborative nature of filmmaking … [And] a record of remarkable artistic freedom made possible for a prolifically imaginative director and writer to cast their spells, enthusiasm and love. * London Grip *Table of ContentsA Letter from Tilda Swinton A Letter from Michael Powell to Emeric Pressburger 1. INTRODUCTION by Claire Smith and Nathalie Morris A Note on Collaboration by Thelma Schoonmaker 2. EXILES by Caitlin MacDonald Notes from a Photographer by Tim Walker 3. PILGRIMS by Alexandra Harris Notes from a Production Designer by Sarah Greenwood 4. BLACK NARCISSUS by Mahesh Rao Notes from an Artist by Michelle Williams Gamaker 5. STARVED FOR TECHNICOLOR by Sarah Street Notes from a Costume Designer by Sandy Powell 6. METAPHORS OF VISION by Ian Christie Notes from a Director by Joanna Hogg 7. THE RED SHOES by Marina Warner Notes from a Milliner by Stephen Jones Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Reviewassiduously researched and fascinating * The Wall Street Journal *“Intriguing...Elton has a sure hand with behind-the-scenes details and is even-handed in his appraisals...A somewhat murky picture of Cimino emerges, though Elton wrestles commendably with an elusive subject...Film buffs will find much to enjoy.” * Publishers Weekly *“One of the strangest and most mysterious of all Hollywood lives gets the treatment it’s been crying out for in this brilliantly insightful biography.” -- author of Fall: The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell, Britain’s Most Notorious Media Baron * John Preston *“While Elton’s book first appears structured as a conventional biography, it ultimately plays more like a mystery novel, as the author interrogates various witnesses in search of the Rosebud that offers a key to Cimino’s hidden life” * The Hollywood Reporter *“I inhaled this book in two sittings. In a magnificent feat of investigative reporting, Charles Elton provides a revelatory reappraisal of Michael Cimino and a tragicomic portrait of late twentieth-century Hollywood.” -- author of Notes on a Scandal * Zoë Heller *“Charles Elton's new book, featuring exhaustive original research and interviews, seeks to upend the narrative on the late filmmaker, whose oeuvre definitely deserves a reappraisal.” * Yahoo! *“The author, Charles Elton, has ably sifted through the lies, evasions, busted budgets, broken friendships, damaged careers, and lurid press clips that the filmmaker left in his wake across his quarter century in Hollywood. The result is riveting...” * AirMail *“Elton masterfully maneuvers through the web of lies surrounding Cimino, providing riveting details and fascinating interviews with key players...A must for film aficionados. Fans of Cimino’s will be satisfied that he has been vindicated.” * Library Journal *“Charles Elton’s Cimino is a riveting, sure-footed, cinema-savvy piece of biographical sleuthing. In his sprightly, sly approach, Elton manages to trap Cimino’s reclusive, mercurial genius—a compelling dissection of both a volatile career and the business of show.” * John Lahr, author of Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrim of the Flesh and Joy Ride: Show People and Their Shows *“Whether you believe Michael Cimino represents an unfairly maligned genius or a monumental example of Hollywood hubris, Elton’s Cimino is a compelling account of an elusive life.” -- author of The Devil's Candy and Wendy and the Lost Boys * Julie Salamon *“What Charles Elton covers in this biography of Cimino reveals a much more complex figure — and might just leave you rethinking your preconceived notions of him.” * Tobias Carroll, Inside Hook "One of the 10 Best Books of 2022" *“Sprawling and granular, structured around on-the-record-testimonies about an artist who, as he got older, did his best to live a hidden, private life. … Indispensable.” * Adam Nayman, The Nation *

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Book Synopsis''Haunting, heartbreaking, and gorgeously atmospheric'' KATE GOLDEN''Adrienne Young''s writing is simply magic'' EMILY RATHTwo twins. An unbroken bond. A truth unspoken.The only thing James and Johnny Golden have ever had is each other. For as long as she can remember, James''s deep connection with her twin brother, Johnny, has gone beyond intuition - she can feel what he feels. So, when Johnny is killed in a tragic accident, James knows before her phone even rings that her brother is gone and that she''s alone - truly alone - for the first time in her life.When James arrives in the rural town of Hawthorne, California to settle her brother''s affairs, she''s forced to rehash the ominous past she and Johnny shared and finally face Micah, the only person who knows about it. He''s also the only man she''s ever loved.But James soon discovers that the strange connection she had with Johnny isn''t quite gone, and the more she immerses herself into his world, the more questions she has about the brother she thought she knew. Johnny was keeping secrets, and he''s not the only one. What she uncovers will push her to unravel what happened in the days before Johnny''s death, but in the end, she''ll have to decide which truths should come to light, and which should stay buried forever.READERS LOVE ADRIENNE YOUNG''Oh my god, I adored this book'' 5* reader review''Spellbinding'' Jodi Picoult''Delightful'' 5* reader review''Bewitching'' Rebecca Ross''Incredibly atmospheric'' 5* reader review''Exquisite'' Stephanie Garber''Eerie and mysterious'' 5* reader review''Captivating'' Sue Lynn Tan

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Book SynopsisBlumhouse Productions is the first book that systematically examines the corpus of Blumhouse’s cinematic output. Individual chapters written by emerging and established scholars consider thematic trends across Blumhouse films, such as the use of found footage, haunted bodies/haunted houses, and toxic masculinity. Blumhouse’s business strategies and funding model are considered – including the company’s high-profile franchises Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge, Happy Death Day, and Halloween – alongside such key standalone films as Get Out and Black Christmas, and nonhorror films like BlackKklansman. Taken together, the chapters provide a thorough primer for one of the most significant drivers behind the contemporary resurgence of horror cinema.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Tables Notes on Contributors Introduction Blumhouse at the Box Office, 2009-2018 ‘Those Things You See Through’: Get Out, Signifyin’, and Hollywood’s Commodification of African American Independent Cinema Haunted Bodies, Haunted Houses Gothixity: Evoking the Gothic through New Forms of Toxic Masculinity Space Invaders: Aliens and Recessionary Anxieties in Dark Skies The (Blum)House Found Footage Horror Built Insidious Patterns: An Integrative Analysis of Blumhouse’s Most Important Franchise The Purge: Violence and Religion as Toxic Cocktail Happy Death Day: Beyond the Neoslasher Cycle Haunted Networks: Transparency and Exposure in Unfriended and Unfriended: Dark Web Blumhouse’s Halloween (2018) the Shifting Ethos of Slasher Remakes ‘Disobedient Women’ and Malicious Men: A Comparative Assessment of the Politics of Black Christmas (1974) and (2019) What Lies Behind the White Hood: Looking at Horror Through a Realistic Lens Through Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAnimation can be used to illustrate, simplify and explain complicated subjects, as well as to transform stories into engaging, fantastical narratives. There are many types of animation, all of which can incorporate different artistic techniques such as sculpture, drawing, painting, printing and textiles. In this practical guide, animation tutor Steve Roberts explores the twelve basic principles of animation, demonstrating the different techniques available and offering helpful exercises for readers to practise in their chosen style. From pencils to pixels, flip books to feature films, and plasticine to puppets, this helpful book covers everything you need to know about how to start animating and will be of great interest for anyone looking to learn how to make their own animated films.

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Book SynopsisEngages with the career of Isabelle Huppert, a major figure in French, European, and World Cinema

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Book SynopsisThey haven't spoken for 12 years.Can they fall in love in 12 days?'I've been bowled over by this perfect little rom com . . . FULL of good lines and great moments' JANE CASEYSnap-crackling with wit and energy, ridiculously enjoyable' MHAIRI MCFARLANE'Fresh, funny and beautifully written. Niamh Hargan is going to be huge' SOPHIE COUSENS'A sweepingly romantic debut . . . it's sexy, escapist and FUN everything a romantic comedy should be!' LAURA JANE WILLIAMSSmart, funny and sizzling with chemistry but with a big, tender heart' CRESSIDA MCLAUGHLIN'I adored this thoughtful, funny, intelligent and very hot romcom' SARRA MANNINGA sparkling, witty debut from a talented new voice' LAUREN HOFunny, smart and very romantic . . . the perfect escape' ALEX BROWN____________________Lizzy Munro is working at the Cannes Film Festival, in a job that involves a lot more admin than red-carpet glamour.There, Ciaran Flynn is the man everyone is talking about: heartthrob of the moment and director of the most romantic movie of the year.What nobody knows is that twelve years ago, they were best friends . . . and they haven't spoken since.But when Ciaran's film runs into trouble, there's only one person he can turn to.Is twelve days enough to save not only Ciaran's film, but also the spark he and Lizzy once shared?____________________READERS ARE LOVING TWELVE DAYS IN MAY:If you want a fun, romantic book to sweep you off your feet this summer: look no further' ?????Such a lovely debut novel about finding a spark again . . . warm and full of joy' ?????I finished this book in one sitting. I would definitely recommend' ?????The writing is outstanding and the plot extremely original' ?????This has all of the makings of a great story: romance, a twisted past, Cannes festival, and the dreamy taste of Tunnocks' ?????Trade ReviewPraise for Niamh: 'Could Niamh be Ireland's answer to Nora Ephron?' Stellar ’A fun, smart romcom about second chances’ The Sun ’Hargan’s novel is about our inaccuracies of perception, as well as being a behind-the-scenes look at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s a smart, wry, engaging debut’ Sunday Independent ‘A gloriously gossipy read, written with intelligence and style’ Irish Examiner ’Picture-perfect romance . . . Fizzes with fun’ Best

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Book SynopsisThe visionary filmmaker Nicholas Ray spent his lifetime creating films that were dark, emotionally charged, and haunted by social misfits and bruised young people consumed by private anguish. This title presents portrait of Nicholas Ray - a man whose troubled life was punctuated by moments of creative genius.Trade Review"[A] portrait of a filmmaker who managed over time to upstage the movies that made him celebrated." -- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel "A clear and balanced portrait of a most complex man." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "[A] fascinating, formidable account of a director whose life was as fraught with complications and melodrama as were his movies...Meticulously researched and gratifying, a biographical page-turner." -- Library Journal (starred review) "McGilligan limns the tragic trajectory of Ray's career with insight and compassion." -- Booklist

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Book SynopsisImpassioned, witty and polemical, At Your Own Risk is Derek Jarman''s defiant celebration of gay sexuality.In At Your Own Risk, Derek Jarman weaves poetry, prose, photographs and newspaper extracts into a rich tapestry of gay experience in the UK. The buttoned-up repression of the fifties and sixties makes way for liberation and free love in the seventies, only to be chased by the terror and pain of HIV/AIDS. This is Jarman at his passionate best, written when he was already ill with HIV and in the midst of the moral panic surrounding the AIDS crisis. Defiant and furious, he not only celebrates his own sexuality but skewers wider society for its brazen homophobia. Reissued here 25 years after Jarman''s death, with an introduction by Straight Jacket author Matthew Todd, At Your Own Risk remains a singular work. It is a powerful reminder of how far we have come and how much further we have left to go.''It blew my mind quiteTrade ReviewIf there is any such thing as the literary equivalent of an incendiary bomb, then this is it... His semtex-packed sentences are welcome thunderflashes of dissent in the grey drizzle of a dispirited political climate * New Statesman *At Your Own Risk gives the reader access to something that is hard to articulate, the near asphyxiating pain, anxiety and rage which many gay people have felt living under the physical, legal and cultural attacks of the last few years * Observer *For all his anger, Jarman never seems brutalised. He retains his humanity and good humour. His is a wonderfully garrulous, mercurial, polymathic daemon * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisAlfred Hitchcock was a strange child. Fat, lonely, burning with fear and ambition, his childhood was an isolated one, scented with fish from his father''s shop. Afraid to leave his bedroom, he would plan great voyages, using railway timetables to plot an exact imaginary route across Europe. So how did this fearful figure become the one of the most respected film directors of the twentieth century?As an adult, Hitch rigorously controlled the press''s portrait of himself, drawing certain carefully selected childhood anecdotes into full focus and blurring all others out. In this quick-witted portrait, Ackroyd reveals something more: a lugubriously jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashes a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life. Iconic film stars make cameo appearances, just as Hitch did in his own films. Grace Kelly, Carey Grant and James Stewart despair of his detached directing style, and, perhaps most famously of all, Tippi Hedren endTrade ReviewSuperb, insightful short life... Deft and moving -- Bee Wilson * The Guardian *Irresistible -- Louise Jury * The Independent *An elegant and hugely enjoyable read -- Alexander Larman * Sunday Express *[A] nutritious, compact and superb critical biography -- Roger Lewis * Daily Mail *Shelves of serious biographies have been written on Alfred Hitchcock, but perhaps none as pleasurable as Peter Ackroyd’s -- Kate Muir * The Times *

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Book SynopsisIn August 1958, the opening scenes of a low-budget black and white film flickered onto cinema screens up and down the country. No one could have foreseen what impact Carry on Sergeant would have then and in the future. Not only did it become one of the top three grossing films for that year, it also kick started the longest running and most successful comedy series of all time.Here, for the very first time, is the essential biography of this most treasured institution in the world of British cinema. Complete with exclusive interviews with cast and crew, and the debut publication of Vince Powell''s script of Carry On Down Under, Fifty Years of Carry On is a must for any fan of the unique and ever hilarious spectacle that is Carry On.Trade ReviewOne for Carry On naysayers as well as the fans, this anniversary insight into a very British world is filled with waspish bon mots, extensive interviews and lots of amusing detail. A comprehensive and warm biography of the key players, as well as the films themselves. * Empire *Richard Webber's book is a chronological trawl through the Carry On series covering everything from early successes like Carry On Sergeant, to classics like Carry On up the Khyber ... our most enduring films have been about getting nookie at all costs and the consolations of the biscuit tin. The French got Truffaut, we got Bisto. Bring it on * Sunday Times *enjoyable * Sunday Telegraph *In this sympathetic, well-researched history, Richard Webber retrieves some of the more lubricious lines lost to the British Board of Censors ... the Carry Ons have become a part of British film history, like Hitchcock and Hammer horror. As vulgar as flock wallpaper, as cheap as fish and chips, they hold a special place in the hearts of young and old alike * Telegraph *fascinating * GT (Gay Times) *

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