Has the Video Essay Arrived?
posted March 15, 2017
Publications in both film criticism and academic film studies have historically been in writing, but as affordable lightweight cameras and digital film-editing tools increasingly have put video production into the hands of anyone, that has been changing.
The Soviet View: A Major Archive Comes Online
posted March 9, 2017
Through a communist lens, the 20th Century looked quite different than it did through the eyes of the West. The British Film Institute is collaborating with an imprint of SAGE Publishing to issue a three-“module” set of rare film footage, Socialism on Film: The Cold War and International Propaganda.
How to Tweak Copyright Law?
posted February 24, 2017
Australian copyright law produces some curious outcomes. A national report says it also forces up the cost of access to information and cultural products, hobbles artistic creation and educational innovation, and hinders transition to a knowledge-based economy. It recommends adjustments, but lawmakers are under copyright-industry pressure to maintain a grudging status quo.
Trailers from Hell
posted January 26, 2017
Filmmaker Joe Dante has drafted friends and colleagues to make shorts about movie trailers. The result is an entertaining and informative website.
GIFs Pose the Question: How Did Buster Keaton Survive?
posted January 6, 2017
"I like to watch silent movies, and then make gifs from them," says Don McHoull of Toronto, Canada. He posts them on his Silent Movie Gifs feed on Twitter. Here's his selection of his favorites of 2016 – they provide opportunities to savor the extraordinary acting and film-making craft of shots and scenes in the silent era.
Grants to Preserve Films by Women and about US-Cuba Relations
posted January 4, 2017
The archives of 50 little-known woman filmmakers, as well as films about US-Cuba relations and Iowa birds, are to be digitized and made more readily available thanks to grants from The Council on Library and Information Resources’ second round of support in its Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives program.