Books in the Film Culture in Transition series

A remarkable and wide-ranging examination of some of the crucial issues in film theory, drawing on the Foucauldian concepts of the dispositif and the episteme.

 This spirited volume explores the history and diversity of improvisation in the cinema, including works by Jean Renoir, Jean-Luc Godard, and Nobuhiro Suwa. Gilles Moullic examines improvisational practices that can be specifically attributed to the cinema and argues in favors of their powers as instigators of unprecedented forms of expression. Improvising Cinema reflects both on the permanence of attempting improvisation and the relationship between technology and aesthetics. Moullic concludes preservation becomes even more invaluable in the case of improvisation, as the creative act exists only within the brief time span of the performance. 

This collection brings together a number of leading scholars in film studies to explore viewing and listening dispositives.

This volume condenses elements of theory on melodrama by bringing into focus what it recognizes to be the locus for subjective identification within melodramatic narratives: the victim.

The Uncanny Child in Transnational Cinema illustrates how global horror film depictions of children re-conceptualised childhood at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and considers the cultural conditions surrounding their emergence.

A collection of essays by the acclaimed film scholar Thomas Elsaesser, written between 1968 and 2005, tracks the crisis of contemporary European cinema, faced by the Hollywood giant on the one hand, and the collapsing national cinema industries on the other.

A unique evaluation of the American cinema of the 1970s, including cult film directors such as Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Altman and Monte Hellman

The rich history of the Cannes Film Festival as seen from the inside.

A fascinating insight on avant-garde film director Walter Ruttmann, the first in English of its kind.

A close reading of the colour aesthetics in film, tracing the historical development of film styles in relation to colour.

An illuminating investigation on the depiction of madness from early horror films of the 20s and 30s to the proliferation of today's conspiracy thrillers.