Criticism, Theory and History

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Projections: 15+ The European Film Academy
Peter Cowie & Pascal Edelmann
This volume features articles and interviews with leading directors, writers, producers, actors, cinematographers, critics, directors of festivals and cinema institutions - as well as audience members from across the wide swathe of Europe - in which they discuss the question: What is a European film? Softcover, 356 pp. $30.00.

The Cinema Book
Third Edition
Edited by Pam Cook
The Cinema Book is widely recognised as the ultimate guide to cinema. Authoritative and comprehensive, this Third Edition has been extensively revised, updated and expanded in response to developments in cinema and cinema studies. It includes many exciting new sections, from Hong Kong cinema to New Hollywood, and from Japanese anime to contemporary British directors as well as in-depth case studies written by leading international film scholars and historians. Softcover, 610 pp. $55.95.

American Movie Critics: An anthology from the silents to now
Edited by Philip Lopate
American Movie Critics, now published in an expanded edition, is an anthology of unparalleled scope that charts the rise of movies as art, industry, and mass entertainment. Softcover, 760 pp. $24.00.

Pictures At a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood
Mark Harris
Pictures at a Revolution tracks five movies -- the milestones Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, the popular hits Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night, and the big-budget disaster Doctor Dolittle -- on their five-year journey to Oscar night in the spring of 1968. It follows their fortunes through the last days of the studio system and the first sparks of a cultural upheaval that would launch maverick new stars and directors, topple more than one industry titan from his pedestal, and redefine what American movies could be. Hardcover, 490 pp. $27.95.

Physical Evidence: Selected Film Criticism
Kent Jones
The first collection from this distinguished American movie critic. An expert writer and thinker on movie history and directorial style, Kent Jones is among the most notable film critics of his generation. His sharp, informed analyses and cogent assessments of cinema and its practitioners have made him a significant voice both in America and internationally. Hardcover, 231 pp. $31.95.

Subversion: The Definitive History of Underground Cinema
Duncan Reekie
Subversion is the first complete history of underground cinema, tracing the hidden life of subterranean filmmaking from its pre-history in bohemian cabaret, through the early cinematic avant-gardes of the 1920s, to the worldwide blossoming of microcinema festivals in the 1990s. Part cultural history, part radical polemic, Subversion is set to become an essential text for scholars as well as filmmakers. Softcover, 259 pp. $29.95.

Making Waves: New Cinemas of the 1960s
Geoffrey Nowell-Smith
The 1960s was a famously the decade of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. It was also a decade of revolution and counter-revolution, of consumerism and rebellion against it. The cinema was central to this atmosphere of cultural ferment. Hollywood was in decline, both artistically and commercially. The genres which had held audiences captive in the 1940s and 50s were losing their appeal and their great practitioners were approaching retirement. Making Waves is a sharp, focused, and brilliant survey of the innovative filmmaking of the 1960s, placing it in its political, economic, cultural, and aesthetic context -- capturing the distinctiveness of a decade which was groundbreaking for the cinema and for the world at large. Softcover, 230 pp. $26.95.

Cinema of Obsession: Erotic Fixation and Love Gone Wrong in the Movies
Dominique Mainon & James Ursini
In Cinema of Obsession, noted film scribes Dominique Mainon and James Ursini tackle stories of love and its many dark permutations -- the star-crossed love stories of Romeo and Juliet and Bonnie and Clyde, the violent female obsession of Mulholland Drive and Fatal Attraction -- all of these and dozens more are discussed in depth, analyzed, and dissected. In addition to plot description, character analysis, and commentary, Mainon and Ursini offer psychological profiles of cinema's most infamous and tortured characters. No stone is left unturned in this, the first-ever comprehensive guide to the twisted side of romantic cinema. Softcover, 392 pp. $28.95.

Action Speaks Louder
Eric Lichtenfield
For more than thirty years, the action movie has been the film genre that most represents Hollywood to the world, as action films find blockbuster success at box offices around the globe. Still, the genre seldom receives the critical attention it deserves. Studying its trends, key components, and visual excesses, this new and expanded edition of Action Speaks Louder traces the genre's evolution to reveal how it has come to assume its place of prominence in American culture. Softcover, 383 pp. $29.95.

Deathtripping: The Extreme Underground
Jack Sargeant
Deathtripping focuses on the post-punk New York filmmakers that coalesced around the radical manifesto by downtown filmmaker Nick Zedd, exploring in depth his demand for a cinema from which "none shall emerge unscathed." Contextualizing the work of these filmmakers within the wider underground film and downtown post-punk No Wave scenes, Deathtripping offers detailed analysis of the extreme cult films produced but this loose knit movement. Also presented are interviews with infamous and legendary filmmakers, including Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, Tommy Turner, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Beth B and Casandra Stark. Softcover, 282 pp. $19.95.

Poetics of Cinema
David Bordwell
Bringing together twenty-five years of work on what he has called the "historical poetics of cinema," David Bordwell here presents an extended analysis of a key question for film studies: how are films made, in particular historical contexts, in order to achieve certain effects? For Bordwell, films are made things, existing within historical contexts, and aim to create determinate effects. Beginning with this central thesis, Bordwell works out a full understanding of how films recast both cultural and cross-cultural influences for their cinematic purposes. Softcover, 495 pp. $46.50.

Armed Forces: Masculinity and Sexuality in the American War Film
Robert Eberwein
In Armed Forces, Robert Eberwein argues that an expanded conception of masculinity and sexuality is necessary in order to understand more fully the intricacy of these intense and emotional human relationships. Drawing on a range of examples from silent films such as What Price Glory to sound era works like The Deer Hunter, he shows how close readings of war films, particularly in relation to their cultural contexts, demonstrate that depictions of heterosexual love, including those in romantic triangles, actually help to define and clarify the nonsexual nature of male love. Softcover, 196 pp. $29.00.

The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded
Wanda Strauven
This anthology traces the history of the "cinema of attractions," reconstructs its conception and questions its attractiveness and usefulness for both pre-classical and post-classical cinema. Softcover, 460 pp. $61.95.

Direct Cinema: Observational Documentary and the Politics of the Sixties
Dave Saunders
Direct Cinema is the first comprehensive study of the seminal 'reactive obeservationalist' movement of 1960s America. Outlining the methods and achievements of a diverse range of filmmakers who together created the notion of the 'fly on the wall' documentary, this volume suggests that direct cinema was not only closely attuned to the artistic and political revolutions of the 1960s, but also representative of a resurgence of the United States' homegrown philosophical ideals. Softcover, 236 pp. $31.95.

Shakespeare on Film: Such Things as Dreams are Made Of
Carolyn Jess-Cooke
Exploring the enduring popularity of Shakespeare's work throughout cinema history, Shakespeare on Film analyses the adaptation, production and popular success of a wide range of Shakespearean films, including Orson Welles' Othello, Roman Polanski's Macbeth, Akira Kurosawa's Ran and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. Softcover, 125 pp. $23.95.

Dali, Surrealism and Cinema
Elliot H. King
Salvador Dali is one of the most widely recognised and most controversial artists of the twentieth century. He was also an avant-garde filmmaker - collaborating with such giants as Luis Bunuel, Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock - though the impetus and endurance of his fascination with film has rarely been given the attention it merits. In this book, King surveys the full range of Dali's eccentric activities with(in) the cinema. Softcover, 218 pp. $24.95.

Queer Screen: A Screen Reader
Jackie Stacey & Sarah Street
Queer Screen: A Screen Reader brings together a selection of key articles on queer audio-visual cultures published over the past two decades in the internationally renowned journal, Screen, with a new introduction by Jackie Stacey and Sarah Street. This book considers a wide range of case studies including mainstream films as well as experimental audio-visual work. Softcover, 304 pp. $40.50.

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The View From Here: Conversations with Gay and Lesbian Filmmakers
Edited by Matthew Hays
The history of gay and lesbian cinema is a storied one, and one that has become much larger in the post-Brokeback Mountain era. But the history of gay and lesbian filmmakers is a story all its own. In The View From Here, some of the world's leading queer film directors and screenwriters speak passionately and eloquently about the medium, and the challenges they face overcoming the demands of the Hollywood studio system and "the market" to create films that are entertaining, engaging, and truthful. Softcover, 383 pp. $26.95.

Postcards From the Cinema
Serge Daney
Postcards from the Cinema turns a history of cinema into a profound meditation on the art and politics of film. Daney's passionate and lucid engagement with film, combined with his concern for journalistic clarity, effectively created film criticism as a genre. The first book-length translation of Daney's work, Postcards from the Cinema is a testimony to a life lived with a fierce love for film. Softcover, 149 pp. $31.00.

Signatures of the Visible
Fredric Jameson
In Signatures of the Visible, Fredric Jameson turns his attention to the cinema: the artform that has replaced the novel as the defining cultural form of our time. Historicizing a form that has fluorished in a postmodern and anti-historical culture, Jameson explores the allegorical and ideological dimensions of such films as The Shining, Dog Day Afternoon and the works of Alfred Hitchcock, among many others. Softcover, 350 pp. $29.95.

The Cinematic
David Campany
Manifestations of the cinematic in photography and of the photographic in cinema have been a springboard for the work of some of the most influential contemporary artists, including James Coleman, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Stan Douglas, Nan Goldin, Douglas Gordon, Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall, among many others. The Cinematic is one of a series documenting major themes and ideas in contemporary art. Softcover, 221 pp. $29.95.

Introduction to Film Studies
Jill Nelmes
Introduction to Film Studies is a comprehensive leading textbook for students of cinema. This updated fourth edition guides students through the key issues and concepts in film studies, traces the historical development of film and introduces some of the world's key national cinemas. Reviewed widely by teachers in the field and with a foreword by Bill Nichols, it can be essential for any introductory student of film, media studies or the visual arts worldwide. Softcover, 478 pp. $44.95.

We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies, 1986-2006
Esther Iverem
The year 2006 marked the twentieth anniversary of the "new wave" in black film. In We Gotta Have It, film and cultural critic Esther Iverem explores how the original new wave pioneers have morphed and branched into all manner and quality of films through the past twenty years. We Gotta Have It is a look at the cultural dissemination of African-Americans in films. Softcover, 610 pp. $22.50.

Scenes of Instruction: The Beginnings of the U.S. Study of Film
Dana Polan
This book chronicles the first classes on the art industry of cinema and the colorful pioneers, who taught, wrote, and advocated on behalf of the new art form. Dana Polan examines a wide range of thinkers who engaged with the new art of film, from Marxist Harry Alan Potamkin to sociologist Frederic Thrasher to Great Books advocates Mortimer Adler and Mark Van Doren. Softcover, 406 pp. $32.95.

Spectatorship: The Power of Looking On
Michele Aaron
Spectatorship: The Power of Looking On cuts a path through the dense undergrowth of the contemporary debate on spectatorship. But what does it actually mean that spectatorship involves our sharing in or witnessing the private, painful or intimate acts of others, or that it depends upon our enjoyment of events that often represent a break with legal or social mores? This study explores these and related issues via detailed consideration of Hollywood classics such as Double Indemnity (1944). Softcover, 139 pp. $28.95.

The Power of Movies: How Screen and Mind Interact
Colin McGinn
How is watching a movie similar to dreaming? What goes on in our minds when we become absorbed in a movie? How does looking "into" a movie screen allow us to experience the thoughts and feelings of the characters? These and related questions are answered in The Power of Movies, an accessible book about a phenomenon seemingly beyond our understanding. Colin McGinn enhances our comprehension of both movies as well as ourselves in this book. Softcover, 210 pp. $17.95.

Screening Gender, Framing Genre: Canadian Literature into Film
Peter Dickinson
In Screening Gender, Framing Genre, Peter Dickinson examines the history and theory of films adapted from Canadian literature through the lens of gender studies. Unique in its discussion of different adaptations, including films based on novels, plays, poetry, and Native orature, this study offers new readings of works by such well-known Canadian authors as Margaret Atwood, Marie-Claire Blais, and Michael Ondaatje, and by such important Canadian filmmakers as Mireille Dansereau, Claude Jutra, Robert LePage, and Bruce McDonald.

CineTech: Film, Convergence and New Media
Stephen Keane
CineTech provides an introduction to the digital practices used in film. The text begins by considering the major changes in modern film and the impact of the transition from analogue to digital. Keane then moves on to consider the ways in which film has converged with new media and the resultant commercial and aesthetic implications. A variety of screen forms are explored, including films, websites, videogames and recent blockbuster franchises. Throughout the text, theory and debate are illuminated through a wealth of contemporary case studies. Examples, including the Star Wars saga and The Matrix Trilogy, provide readers with an insight into this unique area of study. Softcover, 181 pp. $38.95.

Digital Storytelling: The Narrative Power of Visual Effects in Film
Shilo T. McClean
Rather than focusing on techno-jargon, Digital Storytelling is grounded in filmmaking - the scriptwriting process in particular. Author Shilo T. McClean considers crucial questions about digital visual effects and looks at contemporary films and contemporary film theory to find the answers. McClean argues that to consider digital visual effects as simply contributing to the "wow" factor underestimates them. They are, she writes, the legitimate inheritors of film storycraft. Hardcover, 303 pp. $51.95.

Gangster Film Reader
Alain Silver & James Ursini
In Gangster Film Reader, co-editors Alain Silver and James Ursini present a comprehensive overview of this still vital genre via reprints of seminal articles, new essays written especially for this collection, and more than 200 original photographs. It begins with Robert Warshow's celebrated examination of the gangster as a tragic hero. It explores the evolution of the gangster film from D.W. Griffith's 1912 short The Musketeers of Pig Alley to Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather saga. Parts 2 and 3 offer more recent perspectives, with case studies and thematic analyses of such influential films as Raoul Walsh's White Heat, Brian De Palma's 1983 remake of Scarface, John Huston's Prizzi's Honor, and Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. Softcover, 410 pp. $26.00.

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Last modified July 15, 2003 .
Please note that all prices are in Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to change without notice.