Repositorium für die Medienwissenschaft Malte Hagener Moving Forward, Looking Back. The European Avant- garde and the Invention of Film Culture, 1919-1939 2007 https://doi.org/10.5117/9789053569610 Buch / book Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Hagener, Malte: Moving Forward, Looking Back. The European Avant-garde and the Invention of Film Culture, 1919-1939. Amsterdam University Press 2007 (Film Culture in Transition). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5117/9789053569610. Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer Deposit-Lizenz (Keine This document is made available under a Deposit License (No Weiterverbreitung - keine Bearbeitung) zur Verfügung gestellt. Redistribution - no modifications). We grant a non-exclusive, Gewährt wird ein nicht exklusives, nicht übertragbares, non-transferable, individual, and limited right for using this persönliches und beschränktes Recht auf Nutzung dieses document. This document is solely intended for your personal, Dokuments. 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Mit der Verwendung dieses Dokuments erkennen Sie die Nutzungsbedingungen an. * hc Moving Forward 22-05-2007 17:27 Pagina 1 The European film avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s continues to fascinate and influence artists, critics, and the public at large to the present day. Moving Forward, HAGENER MALTE BACK LOOKING MOVING FORWARD, Looking Back. The European Avant-garde and the Inven- tion of Film Culture, 1919-1939 is the first concise and FILM FILM critical overview of this crucial period in film history. Arguing that the avant-garde should be understood as CULTURE CULTURE a transnational network of European scope, this book IN TRANSITION IN TRANSITION ushers in a new approach to the study of artistic move- ments. Such ephemeral activities as alternative screening practice, teaching, publishing, film collecting, exhibitions and film festivals in fact stand at the beginning of what came to be known as film culture ever since. The book thus argues for the lasting and continuing impact that the avant-garde has had on the cinema in general, and not just on film form and film style. Malte Hagener is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. He most recently co-edit- MovingMoving ed Cinephilia. Movies, Love and Memory (Amsterdam University Press 2005). Forward,Forward, LookingLooking BackBack THETHE EUROPEANEUROPEAN AVANT-GARDEAVANT-GARDE ANDAND THETHE INVENTIONINVENTION OFOF FILMFILM CULTURECULTURE 1919-19391919-1939 MALTE HAGENER 9 789053 569610 MALTE HAGENER Amsterdam University Press Amsterdam University Press WWW.AUP.NL Moving Forward, Looking Back Moving Forward, Looking Back The European Avant-garde and the Invention of Film Culture, 1919-1939 Malte Hagener Front cover illustration: photo taken during the shooting of Berlin, die Sinfo- nie der Grossstadt, GER , Walter Ruttmann. Courtesy of the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen Cover design: Kok Korpershoek, Amsterdam Lay-out: japes, Amsterdam isbn (paperback) isbn (hardcover) nur © Malte Hagener / Amsterdam University Press All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Avant-garde Culture and Technological Transfo rma tions 1 Reframing the Historical Avant-garde – Media, Historiography and Method . The Temporal Frame: Historiography and the Coming of Sound Film . The Geographical Frame: Europe and the Cities of Modernism . The Conceptual Frame: Crisis, Archaeology and Systems . The Corpus: Defining the Avant-garde . The Avant-garde as Angel of History: Theses on the Interwar Film Avant-garde 2 The Dialectics of Self-Conception – Film Avant-garde and Industry Around 1930 . Aporias of the Avant-garde . Machine Aesthetics or Self-Expression: Constructivism or Expressionism . Self-propaganda or Revolutionary Agitation: Organising Visual Facts . Conclusion 3 Strategic Convergence and Functional Differentiation – The Film Societies and Ciné-Clubs of the 1920s and 30s . Emergence . Screening Practice . Peak Years - . Institutionalisation and Functional Differentiation in the s . Conclusion 4 Mapping a Totality of Networks, Nodes and Flows – Discourses as Practice . Publishing as Discourse Formation: Magazines and Books . Teaching . Event Culture: Exhibitions, Conferences, Festival . The Myth of Total Cinema 6 Moving Forward, Looking Back . Conclusion 5 Vanishing Point Soviet Union – Soviet Cinema and the West between Innovation and Repression . The Avant-garde in the Soviet Context . The Birth of Montage Cinema from the Spirit of Re-editing . Exploding Categories, Toppling Hierarchies . Time and History: The Temporal Framework of the Avant-garde . Berlin as the Gateway to the West . Publication and Travelling: Translations and the Grand Tour . Allegories of the Heavy Industry: The Battle with Sound . Vanishing Point: From Imaginary Projections to Literal Purges . Conclusion 6 Melodies Across the Oceans – The Intersection of Documentary and Avant-garde . Melodie der Welt and Drifters: Models for What? . On the Threshold: An Invention of a Tradition . The Index, the Narrative, the Fragment and the Persuasion of the Masses . Authenticity and Modernity: The Politics of Dependency . Exotic Adventures and Social Engineering . Locating the Avant-garde in its (National) Context . Conclusion Conclusion – Bridging the Gaps, Connecting the Dots Notes Bibliography Filmography Index of Names Index of Film Titles Index of Subjects Acknowledgements A book is always a long and winding endeavour to which many people contri- bute, a lot of them in ways not intended and often even unconsciously. So this list invariably contains names of people who never meant to participate in the creation of this book and who might even be surprised to find their names here. Of course, mistakes, omissions and faults are completely my own. Meanwhile, I am more than happy to point out the support of a number of friends, acquain- tances and colleagues. The basic framework, organisationally, intellectually and financially has been provided by the Universiteit van Amsterdam and the project » Cinema/Media Europe «, which gave me the opportunity to research and write this book, so my first bow has to go to those who made it possible to participate in this project. I have shared many hours and thoughts with my colleagues Marijke de Valck, Floris Paalman and Ward Rennen in classes and libraries, but also in our offices, first in the Vendelstraat and later in the Turfdraagsterpad. However, this project was all the more extraordinary because many other members from all corners of Europe made our meetings and activities so rewarding and stimulating. Thanks also to Melis Behlil, Yesim Burul, Tarja Laine, Gerwin van der Pol, and Elefther- ia Thanouli who contributed to our common effort of rethinking European cin- ema. However, the largest debt I owe is to Drehli Robnik. He showed up one day at the Ph.D. seminar and has become, along with Gabu Heindl, a good friend ever since. A number of colleagues and friends in Amsterdam have been helpful in var- ious ways, either listening to my half-baked ideas over dinner, sharing film ex- periences, taking the time to read earlier drafts of chapters, or just helping out when it was most necessary: Ivo Blom, Karel Dibbets, Charles Forceville, Julia Nordergraaf, Martina Roepke, Wim Staat, Wanda Strauven, Arnth van Tuinen, and Reimer van Tuinen. As part of the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis, I was lucky to be supported by Eloe Kingma and Hent de Vries. The first scho- lars to seriously involve themselves in the ideas raised in this book were on my Ph.D. committee and so thanks to Jeroen Boomgaard, Ian Christie, Vinzenz He- diger, Jan Simons, and Frank van Vree. A number of invitations allowed me to develop and test out ideas that have helped to shape this book. The first crucial presentation was given at New York University in February where Elena Gorfinkel and Charles Leary orga- nised what turned out to be the first in a series of get-togethers focused on the 8 Moving Forward, Looking Back idea of Cinephilia. At the conference I met Federico Windhausen, a fellow spirit of the avant-garde, while Bill Simon guided me to some references that I would not have been aware of otherwise. In New York, Steven Aldridge and Suzy Beemer provided not only food and shelter, but