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Jean Epstein

Corporeal cinema and film philosophy
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Jean Epstein examines the pioneering work of the avant-garde filmmaker whose poetic and philosophical approach influenced legends like Cocteau, Bunuel, Hitchcock, and Godard. Christophe Wall-Romana offers the first comprehensive English study of Epstein's films and writings, highlighting his innovative techniques such as close-ups, rhythmic montage, slow and reverse motion. Epstein sought to use cinema as a transformative and healing art accessible to all, elevating it to an experimental sublime.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in film theory, avant-garde art, and cinema history, especially those wanting to explore underappreciated innovators who shaped 20th-century world cinema.

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This is the first comprehensive study of Jean Epstein's fiction and documentary films, film theory, and writings on poetry and homosexuality.The book unfolds the intellectual trajectory of Epstein and restores him to the limelight of interwar world cinema, on a par with Renoir, Lang, Capra and Eisenstein.

This is the first comprehensive study of Jean Epstein's fiction and documentary films, film theory, and writings on poetry and homosexuality.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

If cinema can be approached as poetry and philosophy, it is because of Jean Epstein. Cocteau, Buñuel (who was his assistant), Hitchcock, Pasolini, and Godard, along with theoreticians Kracauer, Deleuze, and Rancière, are directly influenced by Epstein's pioneering film work, writings, and concepts.

This book is the first in English to examine his oeuvre comprehensively. An avant-garde artist and an anti-elitist intellectual, Epstein wanted to craft moments of pure transformative cinema. Using familiar genres—melodramas and documentaries—he hoped to heal viewers of all classes and hasten social utopia.

A lover of cinema as cognitive and sensorial technology, and a poet of the screen, he pushed cinematography—as photogenie—towards the experimental sublime, through daring close-ups, rhythmic montage, slow motion, and even reverse motion.

Polish-born, half-Jewish, and the author of a treatise on homosexuality, Epstein has been unfairly relegated to the shadows of film history. Jean Epstein restores him to the limelight of interwar world cinema, on a par with Renoir, Lang, Capra, and Eisenstein.

Series: French Film Directors Series

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  • Jean Epstein
    If cinema can be approached as poetry and philosophy, it is because of Jean Epstein. Cocteau, Buñuel (who was his assistant), Hitchcock, Pasolini, and Godard, along with theoreticians Kracauer, Deleuze, and Rancière, are directly influenced by Epstein's pioneering film work, writings, and concepts. This book is the first in English to examine his oeuvre comprehensively. An avant-garde artist and an...
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    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781784993481

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 05 April 2016

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Manchester University Press

Illustration: Halftones, black & white

Audience: Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 13.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 240g

Pages: 272

About the Author

Christophe Wall-Romana is Associate Professor in the Department of French and Italian and Affiliated Faculty in Moving Image Studies at the University of Minnesota

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