European Film Theory

European Film Theory and Cinema explores the major film theories and movements within European cinema from the 1900s onwards. The study is organized around two major traditions which dominate European film theory and cinema: the aintuitionist modernist and realista tradition and the apost- Saussuriana tradition. This original and critically astute introduction is a work of intellectual history that considers film theory within the context of the intellectual climate of the last two centuries.

With the rise of French and Italian New Wave cinema, the concept of subjectivity came to the forefront of film criticism and theory. The subjective camera allows for the audience to experience film in a wholly different way, manipulating or enriching viewers and forcing them to engage with film as a medium. Subjectivity advances the debate over its role in the history, philosophy, and culture of cinema.

This book, the first full critical overview of the film avant-garde, ushers in a new approach—and in the process creates its own subject. While many books have studied particular aspects of the European film avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s, Moving Forward, Looking Back provides a much-needed summary of the theory and practice of the movement, while also emphasizing aspects of the period that have been overlooked.