Saving Cinema: The Politics of Preservation - Hardcover

FRICK

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019536810X ISBN 13: 9780195368109

Publisher: Academic, 2015

Synopsis

With the inception of cinema, discussions relating to the preservation of film emerged in countries around the globe. Early motion picture collectors, critics, and producers justified film preservation by appealing to cinema's role as art or artifact or through the medium's capacity to document historical events. In the mid to late twentieth century, however, film preservation advocates shifted to validating their work through re-defining and celebrating cinema as cultural heritage.

Saving Cinema investigates the evolution of the film preservation movement―from Hollywood studios and U.S. federal institutions, to influential international associations and small cinema collections in developing nations. Western preservation advocates have succeeded in solidifying a material, artifact-driven approach to how society approaches managing historical relics. But the digital era offers an unprecedented opportunity for change in which widespread access to historical media can, itself, be seen as moving image preservation.

Saving Cinema examines the significant influence of the film preservation movement upon what has been defined as 'American' film heritage for the scholar, practitioner, and audience. Although most movie enthusiasts around the globe think Hollywood films equate the nation's cinematic output, the popularity of all types of moving images on the internet evidence what film archives have known for years―that industrial and training films, and even videos of the family cat prove just as popular as the latest blockbuster. Saving Cinema illustrates that moving image archives have not merely preserved movie history, but have, instead, actively produced cinematic heritage.

About this title

Product Description:

The importance of media preservation has in recent years achieved much broader public recognition. From the vaults of Hollywood and the halls of Congress to the cash-strapped museums of developing nations, people are working to safeguard film from physical harm. But the forces at work aren't just physical. The endeavor is also inherently political. What gets saved and why? What remains ignored? Who makes these decisions, and what criteria do they use? Saving Cinema narrates the development of the preservation movement and lays bare the factors that have influenced its direction. Archivists do more than preserve movie history; they actively produce and codify cinematic heritage. At the same time, digital technologies have produced an entirely new reality, one that resists the material, artifact-driven approach that is the gold standard of preservation in the Western world. As it has become increasingly easy to capture and access moving images, increasing evidence of something many...

Review:

Saving Cinema is a valuable addition to our understanding of preservation issues surrounding film and moving image media. Frick makes a smart and timely contribution to the intellectual ferment taking place at the nexus of media studies and film archiving. She enriches the discussion of American film preservation as a national project, placing it within a much-needed global perspective. (Dan Streible, Orphan Film Symposium and New York University)

The author's impressive educational and professional background provides her with a unique perspective on the film archives community and its history.... Aimed at a wide audience, including film historians and media study students, Saving Cinema presents a cogent challenge to the archival community regarding the philosophy of regional film archives. (Amy M. Moorman, Archival Issues)

About this edition

• Publisher: Academic
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 019536810X
• ISBN 13: 9780195368109
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 230