December 2012 Attention! To all National Sections of FIPRESCI Hereby we present the consecutive part of our international campaign called BEST BOOKS ON FILM Here is the fifth part of “The Best Books On Film”! The booklet is mostly addressed to book editors from all over the world. All five bulletins are available at www.fipresci.org (in the section ‘members only’) and at www.sfp.org.pl/bestbooksonfilm The 5th part should be translated, copied and sent by the national sections to all their local publishers who handle with books on film and the audiovisual culture. Best Books On Film - No.5 Contents: 00. Introduction 01. Cuba 02. Czech Republic 03. France 04. Hungary 05. Italy 06. Norway 07. Poland 08. Sweden 09. Switzerland Introduction Dear Colleagues of National Sections, For the past five years we have been leading a campaign entitled BEST BOOKS ON FILM for promoting the best books on film throughout the world. In general, we have recommended 144 books from 33 countries in our 4 annual booklets published so far. As usual, these booklets are mostly addressed to the book editors from all over the world. All the recommended books are carefully selected by experts and critics of the national sections of FIPRESCI. We would like to remind you that according to the resolution widely accepted by The General Assembly of FIPRESCI, the boards of all our national sections are obliged to translate the booklets into their local languages and send such information to the appropriate publishers in their countries. Please note that those publishers do not read our Internet pages! All the sections that neglected to do the aforementioned things are kindly requested to make up this deficiency quickly, remembering that even a five-year delay will not spoil the meaning of a good book. We initiated our international campaign in 2008 and hope to continue this with your assistance! At the moment we are starting work on our booklet “Best Books On Film 6” and we would like to hear from each national FIPRESCI section about good books published during the last few years. Please send us the information in English regarding 1 – 6 books and let us know in 2 – 4 sentences why a given book might be interesting for a worldwide audience and include all necessary details about each book such as the publisher(s), their regular addresses, e-mails and telephone numbers so that the two or more publishing houses from different countries can get in touch. All the books suggested this way will be recommended in 2013. Please send all the information about the books chosen by your national section to both e-mail addresses of our two editors of BEST BOOKS ON FILM: 1) [email protected] 2) [email protected] The fifth edition of our booklet brings a list of 37 newly recommended books from 9 countries. This makes the total number of 181 selected books all together. Every publisher in the world has a chance to find something interesting! We are looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you! Dr Jerzy Płażewski, Dr Andrzej Fogler Warszawa, December 20, 2012 C U B A 1. Arturo Agramonte. Luciano Castillo: Chronology of the Cuban Cinema. Vol.1 (Cronologia del cine cubano, tomo I) Ediciones ICAIC (Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematograficos), La Habana 2009, 502 pages Calle 23 No. 1155 e/ 10 y 12, Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución, C.P. 10400, La Habana, Cuba. Tel.: (53-7) 838 2865 www: www.cubacine.cu e-mail: [email protected] Historical research about the events of cinema in Cuba from 1897 up to 1936 narrated in a very agreeable form. The Cuban cinema has always been distinguishable among other Latin American cinemas. 2. Jorge Luis Sanches: To Break the Tension of the Arch. The Cuban Movement in the documentary cinema (Romper la tension del arco. Movimento cubano de cine documental) Ediciones ICAIC, La Habana 2010. 448 pages Calle 23 No. 1155 e/10 y 12, Vedado, Plaza de la Revolucion, C.P. C.P. 10400 La Habana, Cuba. Tel.: (53-7) 838 2835 www: www.cubacine.cu e-mail: [email protected] A deep and very interesting critical study of the Cuban documentary filmmaking. The research is focused on the period: 1897 - 2005. The historical processes and conflicts in this extremely neuralgic region reflect here. C Z E C H R E P U B L I C 1. David Čeněk: Chris Marker NAMU, Praha 2012. Malostranské náměstí 12, 118 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic Tel.: 00420-234-244-535, 00420-234-244-537 e-mail: [email protected], [email protected] This monograph of the French director Chris Marker (1921-2012) is based on the deep and long research of Marker´s work (films, writings, journalistic work) and also on the collaboration with Chris Marker himself. It contains the complete list of Marker´s work. Thanks to the extent of the text, the monography is ranged among the most essential books on Chris Marker worldwide. 2. Štěpán Hulík: Cinematography of oblivion: The Beginnings of normalization in the Barrandov film studios 1968-1973 (Kinematografie zapomnění: Počátky normalizace ve filmovém studiu Barrandov 1968-1973) Academia. Praha 2012. Nakladatelství Academia, Vodičkova 40, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Highly appreciated book (it recieved Czech book prize Magnesia litera for „the Discovery of the year“) analyzes years 1968-1973 – the end of Prague Spring, the Soviet occupation and beginning of so called „normalization“ in the communist Czechoslovakia – in the Czech film production house of Barrandov studios. The author worked with until now never used archives of Barrandov studios. His work resulted in very vivid and precise description of the liqudation of Czech new wave phenomenon. 3. Antonín Líman: Masters of Japanese Film (Mistři japonského filmu) Paseka, Praha 2012. Nakladatelství Paseka, Chopinova 4, 120 00 Praha 2, Czech Republic Tel.: 00420-222-710-510, 00420-222-710-511 e-mail: [email protected] The important Czech Japanologue Antonín Líman (Born 1932), translator and essayist, wrote 13 essays about Japanese films: Akira Kurosawa, Kon Ichikawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, Masahiro Shinoda - those masters of Japanese cinematography are in the center of Liman´s essays. He treats the greatest Japanese films in their relationship with literature, theater (kabuki, nó, bunraku), film technique and Japanese cultural tradition. 4. Alena Prokopová: Eva Zaoralová. Life with film (Eva Zaoralová – život s filmem) Novela bohemica, Praha 2012. Jana Růžičky 1143/11 148 00 Praha – Kunratice, Czech Republic The autobiographical interview with Eva Zaoralova, former artistic director of IFF Karlovy Vary, Eva Zaoralova talks about her personal and professional life with sincerity and openness. The interview is not only a glance to unordinary life of one of the important personalities of our film field (Eva Zaoralova started as translator, was active for many years as a film journalist and editor of „Film a doba“ - specialised film review, and served for 16 years as artistic director of IFF KV) but it is also a testimony of the uneasy epoque of the 2nd half of 20th century. 5. Petr Szczepanik: The Cans with Words. The Origins of Sound Film and Czech Media Culture in the Thirties (Konzervy se slovy. Pocatky zvukoveho filmu a česka medialni kultura 30. let) Host. Brno 2009. 526 pages, illustrated Host-vydavatelstvi s.r.o., Radlas 5, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic Tel.: ++ 545 212 744 e-mail: [email protected] This book deals extensively with the media change in Czechoslovakia from the point of view of the new film history. The transformation of “cinema institution” – production, distribution, cinemas, relations with the radio and music records. 6. Zdenek Hudec: Sam Peckinpah and his films. A Biological Image of the World (Sam Peckinpah a jeho filmy: biologicky obraz světa) Casablanca. Praha 2010. 456 pages, illustrated Casablanca-Vaclav Żák, Braškovská 1 161 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic Tel.: ++ 732 754 685 e-mail: [email protected] The monograph of an important American director – mainly from the perspective of the cultural anthropology. Peckinpah’s “aesthetics of violence” as a reflection of the clash between the individual and social conventions. 7. Jan Lukeš (ed.): Elmar Klos. The Black and White Dream-book (Ćernobilý snář Elmara Klose) Narodny filmovy archiv. Praha 2011. 340 pages, illustrated NFA. Bartolomĕjská 11 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic Tel.: + 226 211 864 e-mail: [email protected] A “collective monograph” of the considerable personality of Czech cinema (1910 – 1993), director, scriptwriter, organizer, professor. Studies, essays, memories and documents about particular periods and aspects of his life and works, including the outline of Klos’ own unfinished memoirs. 8. Katarina Mišikova: Mind and Story in the Film Fiction. On Cognitive Approaches to the Theory of Film Narration (Mysl a přibeh ve filmove fikci. O kognitivistickych přistupech v teorii filmove narrace) Nakladatelstvi AMU. Praha 2009, 270 pages Akademie muzickych umeni. Malostranske namesti 12 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic Tel.: ++ 234 244 536, 234 244 53 e-mail: [email protected] A thorough survey and explanation of various recent concepts regarding the process of film narration. Written from the view-point of a film expert and theoretician. F R A N C E 1. Paul Obadia: Personality. The Movement and the Space of Jacques Tati and Robert Bresson (Le Personnage. Le Mouvement et L’Espace de Jacques Tati et Robert Bresson). Mon Oncle, Playtime, Pickpocket, Mouchette. Coll. Champs visuels. Paris 2012. 280 pages. € 28.00 e-mail: [email protected] The four analysed here films were made between 1950 and 1960, in the years when, besides the “glorious” thirties, the modern cinema of the 20th century was created.