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New Perspectives on Early Cinema History

Concepts, Approaches, Audiences

Daniel Biltereyst editor Mario Slugan editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:22nd Feb '24

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New Perspectives on Early Cinema History cover

Provides a theoretical reconceptualization of the paradigms of early cinema, highlighting the latest methods in studying the period.

In this book, editors Mario Slugan and Daniël Biltereyst present a theoretical reconceptualization of early cinema. To do so, they highlight the latest methods and tools for analysis, and cast new light on the experience of early cinema through the application of these concepts and methods.

The international host of contributors evaluate examples of early cinema across the globe, including The May Irwin Kiss (1896), Un homme de têtes (1900), The Terrible Turkish Executioner (1904) and Tom Tom the Piper’s Son (1905). In doing so, they address the periodization of the era, emphasizing the recent boon in the availability of primary materials, the rise of digital technologies, the developments in new cinema history, and the persistence of some conceptualizations as key incentives for rethinking early cinema in theoretical and methodological terms.

They go on to highlight cutting-edge approaches to the study of early cinema, including the use of the Mediathread Platform, the formation of new datasets with the help of digital technologies, and exploring the early era in non-western cultures. Finally, the contributors revisit early cinema audiences and exhibition contexts by investigating some of the earliest screenings in Denmark and the US, exploring the details of black cinema going in Harlem, and examining exhibition practices in Germany.

This outstanding collection, expertly curated by the editors, interrogates the current state of early cinema study by re-examining how we have come to understand this complex phenomenon and suggesting what more there is to learn. Adopting distinct approaches, uncovering novel sources, and providing exciting scholarly discoveries, New Perspectives on Early Cinema History more than fulfills the promise of its title. -- Charlie Keil, University of Toronto, Canada
Fifty years ago, studying the first decades of film claimed a special place in the wider history of cinema. Since then, it has become one of the liveliest and most productive areas for theorising not only old but increasingly also new media, as this welcome collection of new studies demonstrates. -- Ian Christie, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
New Perspectives on Early Cinema History breaks new ground in the study of early cinema by offering theoretical reconceptualizations that showcase the latest methods and tools for analysis and cast new light on early cinema audiences in different regions of the world.” * Film History: An International Journal, Volume 34, Number 4, 2022, pp. 126-134 (Article) *
“We could say that Slugan and Biltereyst’s collection embodies the encounter of early film history with new cinema history – or maybe the transmutation of the former into the latter, as its line-up smoothly moves from Gaudreault, who contributed to all the new film history anthologies cited above, to Biltereyst, well-known for his involvement in new cinema history projects (not least as co-editor of similar collections). Emerging, in the middle, is a new generation of scholars mostly coming from continental Europe (Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Russia). What the book proposes, in sum, are new cinema history perspectives on early cinema history.” -- Sofia Sampaio, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal * Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2023 Vol. 43, No. 2, 619–643 *

  • Runner-up for BAFTSS (British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies) Award for Best Edited Collection 2023 (UK)

ISBN: 9781350451452

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

304 pages