James Donald, Anne Friedberg, Laura Marcus (eds.): Close Up: Cinema And Modernism (2001)
Filed under book | Tags: · avant-garde, cinema, film, film history, film theory
Between 1927 and 1933, the journal “Close Up” championed a European avant-garde in film-making. This volume republishes articles from the journal, with an introduction and a commentary on the lives of, and complex relationships between, its writers and editors.
Publisher Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001
ISBN 0304335169, 9780304335169
352 pages
PDF (the link fixed on 2012-10-25)
Comment (0)Paul Sharits, Józef Robakowski: Attention: Light!, catalogue (2004)
Filed under catalogue | Tags: · art, experimental film, film, light, structural film
“In the early 1980s, American artist Paul Sharits sent Józef Robakowski plans for a film entitled Attention: Light with the suggestion that Robakowski produce it in Poland. The film was to be a visual rendition of the Mazurka in F minor, Op. 68#4 by Frederick Chopin. Unfortunately, due to unmitigated circumstances including the imposition of martial law in Poland, Robakowski was unable to fulfill Sharits’ wish.
This unique project was eventually realised in 2004 and was the highlight of the program Attention: Light! held at the University at Buffalo’s Center for the Arts, and which featured works by Paul Sharits (T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G; Piece Mandala/End War; Word Movie-Flux Film 39; Tails) and Józef Robakowski (Test 1; Proba II/An Attempt II; 1,2,3,4…; Impulsatory/Impulsators; Video Piesni/Video Songs; Katy Energetyczne/The Energy Angles).
A black and white booklet, published in conjunction with the screening, features forwards by Edmund Cardoni (Hallwalls Executive Director) and Fritzie Brown (CEC ArtsLink Executive Director), essays by Joanna Raczynska (“Four Short Films by Paul Sharits”), Lukasz Ronduda (“Attention: Light!: Józef Robakowski’s Light Based Films and Video Works”), Józef Robakowski (“‘Art’ Friend-A Memoir”), Wieslaw Michalak (“Attention: Light! Technical Description”), and a coda by Malgorzata Potocka. The catalogue also features photos, film scores, and film stills.
Attention: Light was curated by CEC Arts Link curator in residence Lukasz Ronduda, and by Joanna Raczynska, Hallwalls Media Arts Director.”
Edited by Łukasz Ronduda
Publisher Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY, 2004
Design Marianka Dobkowska and Krzysiek Bielecki
ISBN 8388277634
44 pages
Michelle Langford: Allegorical Images: Tableau, Time and Gesture in the Cinema of Werner Schroeter (2006)
Filed under book | Tags: · cinema, film, film history, film theory, new german cinema
Werner Schroeter is one of the most important and influential directors of the New German Cinema, yet discussion of his films within film theory has been intermittent and un-sustained. This book provides a long-overdue introduction to Schroeter’s visually lavish, idiosyncratic and conceptually rich cinema, situating its emergence within the context of the West German television and film subsidy system during the 1970s, then moving on to engage with some of the most pertinent and important arguments in contemporary film theory.
Drawing upon the work of Gilles Deleuze, Walter Benjamin, and Bertolt Brecht, the author negotiates her way through the complex allegorical terrain of Schroeter’s films by focusing on their insistent and original use of the cinematic tableaux, allegorical montage, temporal layering and gestural expression. In doing so, this book also makes a valuable contribution to developing a theory of cinematic allegory by locating Schroeter’s films in the context of a wider “allegorical turn” in contemporary European and post-colonial filmmaking.
Allegorical Images serves not only as a compelling and sophisticated introduction to Schroeter’s cinema, but also makes a major contribution to a range of debates in contemporary film theory around allegory, tableaux, time and gesture.
Publisher Intellect Books, 2006
European Communication Research and Education Association Series
ISBN 1841501387, 9781841501383
215 pages