René Clair’s (much embattled but ever resilient) reputation as one of the supreme stylists of screen comedy still rests essentially on the quartet of populist films he made in a breathtaking élan of creativity between 1930 and 1933. These comedies – Sous les toits de Paris, Le Million, À nous la liberté and (the lesser known) 14 juillet – vindicated the art of European sound film, released the early talkies from the artless yoke of canned theatre, and placed Clair in the elite of world-rank directors.
Dear friends of Domitor,
I am deeply saddened to inform you that last week, on the eve of the Jewish New Year, Israeli early cinema historian Joseph (Yossi) Halachmi passed away at the age of 86.
Founder of Filmography 'Israeli Early Cinema' website, Jospeh Halachmi dies at the age of 86.
Film historian, writer, poet, Film & TV director and "Haagan" veteran was born in 1933 and was a foundig member of "Israeli Eductional Television" and saw his life mission in preserving history of early history of Jewish cinema.
All of the silent holdings in Denmark's cinema archives are being digitized and made available for free.
In her documentary film “Bergman – A Year in a Life”, Jane Magnusson discusses the topic of Ingmar Bergman and Nazism. In his memoir “Laterna Magica” and his interviews Bergman consistently emphasized his Nazi enthusiasm that lasted until well after the end of World War became convinced II when he learend of the truth about the Holocaust.
The trouble with Ingmar's account is that nobody confirms it.
Antti Alanen (born 1955) is a film programmer at the Helsinki cinematheque (National Audiovisual Institute / Finland) and historian. He has been the programmer at the Helsinki cinematheque since 1985, programming for Cinema Orion. In 2019 the cinematheque is moving to Kino Regina at the new Central Library.
A special section of DOMITOR website is dedicated to publishing monthly posts by Domitorians - Please visit here www.domitor.org/posts.
You are all warmly invited to contribute to this Domitor blog as guest-editors. Should you have a post proposal, please contact the Domitor EC here.
"A.G. Parker Cinema Collection", of the "European Collections and Cataloguing" (ECC) as part of the Cambridge University Library film book collections
Former University Library staff member Glynne Parker died in October 2011 - After his death, collection of printed matter and ephemera on film was presented to the Cambridge University Library film book collections.
Glynne Parker’s own records show that his book collection ran to 2774 books. Journals make up a minor component of the overall collection, but include some fairly rare small-run publications. Glynne concentrated on American, British, and European cinema and bought chiefly in English, French, and Italian. His great interest in silent cinema is reflected strongly in the collection, with many major Italian titles about the genre and over 50 books about Buster Keaton.
The book "Theatre to Cinema: Stage Pictorialism and the Early Feature Film", first published by Oxford University Press in 1997, is now available in an open access, online edition on the UW Library Digital Collections site.
Please visit uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/arts/thetr2cnma.
Read more: Theatre to Cinema: Stage Pictorialism and the Early Feature Film
Oded Hanoded is 1932 Drama film directed by Chaim Halachmi (Haim Halachmi), and written by Chaim Halachmi (Haim Halahmi) and Tzvi Lieberman-Livne (Based on his childrens book).
Considered first full-length Hebrew feature film.
"A cornerstone for the Hebrew cinema was laid yesterday" by Doar Hayom after the film's premiere at Jerusalem's Zion Cinema.
Uri Klein, Ha’aretz film critic: “Today, 78 years after its making, the major interest in watching the film stems from its attempt to deal with the conflict between the collective and the individual".
Book review, of "Fresh Wind: The first Zionist Film in Palestine, 1899-1902" by Israeli film historian Jospeh Halachmi.
Published by Routledge, "Early Popular Visual Calture" (Vol.8, No.4, November 2010, 451-458).
Read more: Fresh Wind: The first Zionist Film in Palestine - Book Review