Early Cinema: From Factory Gate to Dream Factory explores the period 1895 to 1914 when cinema emerged as the leading form of visual culture and established itself as a worldwide institution. Looking at magic lantern shows, screenings at fair grounds & music halls and the establishment of purpose-built cinemas, this book is a fascinating insight into film at the start of the twentieth century.
To celebrate The Smoking Cabinet, Wallflower Press are kindly offering copies at the special discounted price of just £10 (usually £12.99). To order your copies please e-mail info@wallflowerpress.co.uk with ‘SMOKING CABINET OFFER’ in the subject line and they’ll help you place your order.
Postage & packaging is free within the UK.
Early Cinema: From Factory Gate to Dream Factory
For more info and to order see Wallflower Press
Early Cinema: Primitives and Pioneers, the BFI’s fascinating collection of 60 short films all made before 1911, is a double-disc set that provides an entertaining look at how many film devices such as the close-up, the cut-away and editing, were first invented by film-makers before the turn of the century. Featuring the work of Lumire brothers, Edwin S Porter, the Hepworth Company, R W Paul, George Albert Smith and James Bamforth amongst others.
Other BFI Video titles worth a look include Piccadilly, Borderline, Silent Britain, Electric Edwardians: The Films of Mitchell and Kenyon, People on Sunday, Dreams That Money Can Buy, R W Paul: The Collected Films 1895-1908 and Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S Porter as well as the Media Magica: Film before Film series
Early Cinema: Primitives and Pioneers
For more info and to order see BFI Video
Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1893-1941 premieres a comprehensive 20-programme retrospective of the pre-Maya Deren inspired avant-garde film movement in America. Over 160 films in newly preserved and restored 35mm and 16mm film prints survey the hitherto unknown accomplishments of pioneer filmmakers working in the United States and abroad during the formative period of American film. The series postulates an innovative and often controversial view of experimental cinema as a product of avant-garde artists, of Hollywood directors, and of amateur movie-makers working collectively and as individuals at all levels of film production during the last decade of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
For more information and to order see Unseen Cinema
The Cabaret by Lisa Appignanesi. This captivating book presents a uniquely comprehensive cultural history of cabaret, where the most radical of artists, poets, writers, musicians, and theatre directors have gathered since 1881. Lisa Appignanesi takes us to the original cabaret - the smoke-filled rooms of the Chat Noir in Paris that served as a meeting place for the avant-garde and a laboratory of subversion against the establishment. She then follows the journey of the cabaret across Europe and to the United States, tracing each development in cabaret history to the present day.
This much revised and updated edition of Appignanesi’s classic work is enriched with materials that have become more accessible in the post-Soviet era. It also features a variety of new illustrations from both East and West. The book provides a lively look at all aspects of cabaret, where art and entertainment join to mock and provoke, and where radical artistic, literary, and political ideas have found expression for more than 120 years.
Lisa Appignanesi is a writer and broadcaster. She is the author of many books, widely translated, including the acclaimed Freud’s Women (with John Forrester), a portrait of Simone de Beauvoir, the highly praised memoir Losing the Dead, and the novel The Memory Man. She has made and presented a variety of programmes for radio and television in Great Britain and France. She is a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
More books and DVDs coming soon …
