Cinemas Alchemist: The Films of Pter Forgcs
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
Cinemas Alchemist: The Films of Pter Forgcs
By (Author) Bill Nichols
Edited by Michael Renov
Contributions by Whitney Davis
Contributions by Lszl F. Fldnyi
University of Minnesota Press
University of Minnesota Press
11th January 2012
United States
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Digital, video and new media arts
791.430233092
Physical Properties
Paperback
320
Width 178mm, Height 254mm, Spine 20mm
Description
Pter Forgcs, based in Budapest, is best known for his award-winning films built on home movies from the 1930s to the 1960s that document ordinary lives soon to intersect with offscreen historical events. Cinemas Alchemist offers a sustained exploration of the imagination and skill with which Forgcs reshapes such film footage, originally intended for private and personal viewing, into extraordinary films dedicated to remembering the past in ways that matter for our future.
Contributors: Whitney Davis, U of California, Berkeley; Lszl F. Fldnyi, U of Theatre, Film and Television, Budapest; Marsha Kinder, U of Southern California; Tams Kornyi; Scott MacDonald, Hamilton College; Tyrus Miller, U of California, Santa Cruz; Roger Odin, U of Paris III SorbonneNouvelle; Catherine Portuges, U of Massachusetts Amherst; Michael S. Roth, Wesleyan U; Kaja Silverman, U of Pennsylvania; Ernst van Alphen, Leiden U, the Netherlands; Malin Wahlberg, Stockholm U.
Reviews
"Pter Forgcs is indeed an alchemist, as this insightful compendium of essays proclaims; his extraordinary process transforms ordinary home movies into works of profound and sometimes mysterious beauty. This volume brilliantly articulates the qualities that make his work so distinctive and important, not only as acts of cinematic archaeology but as transformative art. Michael Renovs concise appreciation of Forgcs devastating reimagining of pre-Holocaust Jewish family movies in The Maelstrom, and Bill Nicholss and Scott MacDonalds revealing interviews with the filmmaker himself, are among the gems to be discovered." Peter L. Stein, Executive Director, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker
"There are film makers who have created a documentary opus of great significance, and have thereby deepened our understanding of the past. Pter Forgcs, Hungarian film maker and media artist, is such a man. He composes films as if they were musical compositionsby using found material." from the 2007 Erasmus Prize Laudatio
Author Bio
Bill Nichols is professor of cinema at San Francisco State University.
Michael Renov is vice dean of academic affairs and professor of critical studies in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.
