Jean Epstein: Corporeal cinema and film philosophy

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, and 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 photogénie - towards the experimental sublime, through daring close-ups, rhythmic montage, slow motion, even reverse motion. Series Editors' ForewordIntroduction: Epstein at the crossroadsChapter 1: From literary modernism to photogenieChapter 2: Avant-garde working class melodramasChapter 3: Technology, embodiment and homosexualityChapter 4: Brittany, the edge of the modern worldChapter 5: Documentaries and sound filmsChapter 6: 'A young Spinoza': philosophy of the cinemaConclusion: Epstein as pioneer of corporeal cinemaFilmographySelect BibliographyIndex -- .