The Essay Film

From Montaigne, After Marker

Add to my list

by Timothy Corrigan

Type

Studies

Subject

Genre > Independent cinema

Keywords

essay films

Publishing date

2011

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 256 pages
6 x 9 ¼ inches (15.5 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-0-19-978170-6

User Ratings

(0 vote)

X

Average rating:

0	rating	= We can do without
0	rating	= Good book
0	rating	= Excellent book
0	rating	= Unique / a reference

Your rating: -

Book Presentation:
• Provides a global survey of an under-studied genre of cinema: the essay film
• Includes discussions of popular nonfiction films like Grizzly Man, The Fog of War, Seven Up, and The Gleaners and I
• Features over 70 illustrations from essay films from all over the world

Even though essay films have been a key practice since the 1950s, there is scant analysis about this form in English. Part of this is likely due to the inherent difficulty of definition. The films, which foreground subjectivity and adopt an explicit, personal approach to their subject matter, can look and feel very different from one another. Their coherence as a group, however, comes into focus when contextualized as part of the larger tradition from which they draw. By looking to the literary and philosophical lineage of the essay form, Corrigan brings new clarity to a practice that, arguably, is one of the most common and successful in contemporary film culture. The Essay Film situates its investigation in the literary tradition of essayists such as Montaigne, Barthes, and Huxley before moving to an expansive discussion of filmmakers such as Derek Jarman, Allan Clark, Werner Herzog, Harun Farocki, Chantal Akerman, Chris Marker, Errol Morris, Nanni Moretti, Agnès Varda, Ross McElwee, Abbas Kiarostami, Raoul Ruiz, Lynne Sachs, and Trinh T. Minh-ha.

About the Author:
Timothy Corrigan, Professor of English and Cinema Studies, University of Pennsylvania Timothy Corrigan is a Professor of English, Cinema Studies, and History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania. His books include The Films of Werner Herzog, Writing About Film, New German Film: The Displaced Image, and A Cinema Without Walls.

Press Reviews:
Winner of Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize 2012

See the publisher website: Oxford University Press