European Directors and Their Films
Essays on Cinema

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Book Presentation:
At a time when movie reviews have degenerated into mere publicity and film scholarship has become entangled in pedantic discourse, close readings of major directing careers and significant films are a needed alternative. In European Directors and Their Films: Essays on Cinema, Bert Cardullo analyzes of some of the most important film artists and individual films of the last several decades. Beyond simple biographical capsules and plot summaries, these readings demonstrate with elegance and clarity what cinema means as well as what it shows, explaining how international moviemakers use the resources of the medium to pursue complex, significant human goals.
In this volume Cardullo offers fresh perspectives on some of the established greats of European cinema―including Vittorio De Sica (Shoeshine, Bicycle Thieves, Umberto D.), Federico Fellini (I Vitelloni, La Strada, Nights of Cabiria), Jean Renoir (Grand Illusion, The Rules of the Game), Robert Bresson (L’Argent), Jacques Tati (Mr. Hulot’s Holiday), Ingmar Bergman (Winter Light, Autumn Sonata), Eric Rohmer (A Tale of Winter), and Roman Polanski (The Pianist)―as well as insights into vital work by such contemporary filmmakers as Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher), Sergei Bodrov (Prisoner of the Mountains), Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (La Promesse, The Son, L’Enfant), Andrei Kravchuk (The Italian), and Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days).
Including essays on filmmakers from continental Europe, Russia, and Scandinavia, this engaging companion to World Directors and Their Films will appeal to general readers as well as scholars of international cinema.
About the Author:
Bert Cardullo is professor of Media and Communication at the Izmir University of Economics in Turkey. He is the author, editor, or translator of a number of books on film and drama, including World Directors in Dialogue: Conversations on Cinema (Scarecrow, 2011).
Press Reviews:
"These two new volumes from Scarecrow Press take a scholarly, in-depth look at some of the best internationally known film directors of our time. The author's goal is to go beyond the publicity trailers and look into the artistic merit and vision of the directors as well as their purpose in creating the film. The titles provide more than just biographical data and filmographies, they also provide insight into how the film directors use film to promote political, historical, and social agendas....Cardullo has written several books and journal articles on film and drama and his knowledge and love of the industry show through in these volumes. These titles would be valuable additions to any large university's film studies collection." ―American Reference Books Annual
> From the same author:
Screen Writings (2010)
Volume 1: Partial Views of a Total Art, Classic to Contemporary
Subject: Film Analysis
Five French Filmmakers (2008)
Renoir, Bresson, Tati, Truffaut, Rohmer: Essays and Interviews
Subject: Director > Jean Renoir, Robert Bresson, Jacques Tati, François Truffaut, Eric Rohmer
In Search of Cinema (2004)
Writings on International Film Art
Playing to the Camera (1999)
Film Actors Discuss Their Craft
by Bert Cardullo, Harry Geduld, Ronald Gottesman and Leigh Woods
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