The Cuban Image: Cinema and Cultural Politics in Cuba

Among the earliest films ever made in Cuba, dating from the end of the last century, are newsreels containing footage of the Spanish-Cuban-American War. Since that time film has never been far from the centre of Cuban cultural politics. The early chapters of this history of Cuban cinema, the first to be written in English, focus not only on the films made but also on Cuba's position in Latin American culture and its role within the international economy of Hollywood. In the twenty-five years since the revolution there has been urgent debate about the role of the cinema within the cultural life of the country and about the kinds of films best suited to its needs. The latter part of the book is concerned with these discussions, with the restructuring of the film industry after the revolution and with the achievements of contemporary film-makers.

History

Chanan, Michael

Americas

BFI Publishing

The writings included in this book are mainly history of Cuban cinema and Cuban cultural politics, the first to be written in English, focus not only on the films made but also on Cuba’s position in Latin American culture and its role within the international economy of Hollywood.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Indiana Univ. Pr

The Dream That Kicks: The Prehistory and Early Years of Cinema in Britain

The Dream the Kicks is a classic account of the prehistory and early years of cinema in Britain. In this new paperback edition, which has been thoroughly revised to take into account recent scholarship of early cinema, Michael Chanan provides a fasciniating account of the rich and hitherto hidden history of the origins of film. Chanan demonstrates that the theory of `the persistence of vision', which led to the invention of moving pictures, has been superceded by modern scientific findings. In its place, he puts forward a theory of invention as a type of bricolage, and shows that cinematography was a product of the forces of nineteenth century capitalism. He discusses the wealth of influences, both popular and bourgeois, on the culture of early cinema, including diorama, the magic lantern, itinerant entertainers and music hall. He looks at the relationship between film and photography, and considers the nascent film business, the ways in which early cinema was received by its audiences and the developing aesthetics of cinema in its first fifteen years.

The Dream That Kicks

Humor & Entertainment

Movies

Routledge

First published in 1991, a second edition of an account of the prehistory and early years of the cinema. Considers the relationship between film and photography, and claims that cinematography was a result of nineteenth century capitalism.

The dream that kicks: The prehistory and early years of cinema in Britain

Ancient Civilizations

Routledge& Kegan Paul

From Printing to Streaming: Cultural Production under Capitalism (Marxism and Culture)

<div> A radical and comprehensive analysis of the commodification of artistic creation and the struggle to realize its potential in the digital age. For mainstream economics, cultural production raises no special questions: creative expression is to be harvested for wealth creation like any other form of labor. As Karl Marx saw it, however, capital is hostile to the arts because it cannot fully control the process of creativity. But while he saw the arts as marginal to capital accumulation, that was before the birth of the mass media. Engaging with the major issues in Marxist theory around art and capitalism,&nbsp;From Printing to Streaming&nbsp;traces how the logic of cultural capitalism evolved from the print age to digital times, tracking the development of printing, photography, sound recording, newsprint, advertising, film, and broadcasting, exploring the peculiarities of each as commodities, and their recent transformation by digital technology, where everything melts into computer code. Chanan demonstrates how these developments have had profound implications for both cultural creation and consumption. </div>

Arts & Photography

Business of Art

Pluto Press

Review\n'Chanan's rich historical investigations of the evolving technologies of artistic production provide a fascinating new basis for a politics of culture' 
Michael Hardt, co-author of 'Assembly'\n'Drawing on nearly fifty years of writing and teaching about the media and making films, Michael Chanan presents us with a series overlapping histories of different media technologies, which is both authoritative and original' 
Julian Petley, Honorary and Emeritus Professor of Journalism at Brunel University, London\n'Michael Chanan's brilliant synthesis, replete with fascinating detail, both boggles the mind and deeply educates' 
Claudia Gorbman, Professor Emerita of Film Studies at the University of Washington Tacoma\nFor mainstream economics, cultural production raises no special questions: creative expression is to be harvested for wealth creation like any other form of labour. As Karl Marx saw it, however, capital is hostile to the arts because it cannot fully control the process of creativity. But while he saw the arts as marginal to capital accumulation, that was before the birth of the mass media. Engaging with the major issues in Marxist theory around art and capitalism, From Printing to Streaming traces how the logic of cultural capitalism evolved from the print age to digital times, tracking the development of printing, photography, sound recording, newsprint, advertising, film and broadcasting, exploring the peculiarities of each as commodities, and their recent transformation by digital technology, where everything melts into computer code. Showing how these developments have had profound implications for both cultural creation and consumption, Chanan offers a radical and comprehensive analysis of the commodification of artistic creation and the struggle to realise its potential in the digital age.

Memories of Underdevelopment was the first great international success of Cuban cinema. The film provides a complex portrait of Sergio, a disaffected bourgeois intellectual who remains in Havana after the Revolution, suspended between two worlds. He can no longer accept the values of his family's reactionary past and yet boredom and the conditioning of his early life prevent him from committing himself to the new revolutionary society. Sergio's story is played out in the turbulent period of the Bay of Pigs invasion and the 1962 missile crisis, events he can only watch on his television screen or from his apartment balcony.The film, initially banned by the U.S. government as part of its trade quarantine of Cuba, was shown here five years after its original release. But American critics responded enthusiastically to it and the National Society of Film Critics bestowed an award on its director. This double volume includes the complete continuity script of Memories, as well as the complete novel, Inconsolable Memories, upon which the film is based. An interview with Alea is reproduced here, as well as documentation of the political controversy that surrounded the film in this country. Michael Chanan's introduction places the film in the context of Cuban political and cultural history. The volume also includes a biographical sketch of Alea, a chronology of the Cuban Revolution, reviews, commentary, a filmography, and a bibliography.Michael Chanan lives in England, where he teaches and writes on film. He is the author of The Cuban Image: Cinema and Cultural Politics in Cuba.

Memories Of Underdevelopment (Rutgers Films in Print)

Rutgers University Press

Memories Of Underdevelopment (Rutgers Films in Print series)

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

The earliest films made in Cuba-newsreel footage of the Cuban-Spanish-American War-date from the end of the nineteenth century, but Cuba cannot be said to have had an indigenous film industry before the revolution of 1959. The melodramas, musicals, and comedies made until then reflected Hollywood's-and the United States's-cultural domination of the island, but the revolution precipitated urgent debates about the role of cinema in a socialist country and the kinds of films best suited to the needs of the people and their rulers. Among the feature films, documentaries, and short subjects made in accordance with revolutionary principles are celebrated works by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Humberto Solás, and other filmmakers who have had a profound influence on both Latin American and world cinema. 
Michael Chanan provides a comprehensive, authoritative, and absorbing account of Cuban cinema both before and after the revolution, deftly setting individual films and filmmakers within the larger framework of Cuba's social, political, and cultural history. First published as The Cuban Image in 1984 to wide acclaim, Cuban Cinema now appears in a new, expanded edition that updates Chanan's discussion to the beginning of the twenty-first century. New chapters address ongoing concerns about freedom of expression; Havana's restored importance within the Latin American film industry through the Havana Film Festival, before state support for filmmakers dwindled in the economic collapse that followed the fall of the Soviet Union; Cuban cinema's place within the globalized cultural market; and the changing audience for Cuban films. 
The only book-length study of Cuban cinema written in English, this indispensable work on one of the world's most vital national cinemas offers a unique perspective on the Cuban experience in the twentieth century. 
Michael Chanan is a documentary filmmaker and professor of cultural and media studies at the University of the West of England in Bristol.

Cuban Cinema (Volume 14) (Cultural Studies of the Americas)

Univ. of Minnesota Press

The earliest films made in Cuba—newsreel footage of the Cuban-Spanish-American War—date from the end of the nineteenth century, but Cuba cannot be said to have had an indigenous film industry before the revolution of 1959. The melodramas, musicals, and comedies made until then reflected Hollywood’s—and the United States’s—cultural domination of the island, but the revolution precipitated urgent debates about the role of cinema in a socialist country and the kinds of films best suited to the needs of the people and their rulers. Among the feature films, documentaries, and short subjects made in accordance with revolutionary principles are celebrated works by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Humberto Solás, and other filmmakers who have had a profound influence on both Latin American and world cinema.Michael Chanan provides a comprehensive, authoritative, and absorbing account of Cuban cinema both before and after the revolution, deftly setting individual films and filmmakers within the larger framework of Cuba’s social, political, and cultural history. First published as The Cuban Image in 1984 to wide acclaim, Cuban Cinema now appears in a new, expanded edition that updates Chanan’s discussion to the beginning of the twenty-first century. New chapters address ongoing concerns about freedom of expression; Havana’s restored importance within the Latin American film industry through the Havana Film Festival, before state support for filmmakers dwindled in the economic collapse that followed the fall of the Soviet Union; Cuban cinema’s place within the globalized cultural market; and the changing audience for Cuban films. The only book-length study of Cuban cinema written in English, this indispensable work on one of the world’s most vital national cinemas offers a unique perspective on the Cuban experience in the twentieth century.Michael Chanan is a documentary filmmaker and professor of cultural and media studies at the University of the West of England in Bristol.

Cuban Cinema (Cultural Studies of the Americas) (Volume 14)

University of Minnesota Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Chanan, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Chanan, Michael

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Chanan, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Cuban Image: Cinema and Cultural Politics in Cuba

The Cuban Image: Cinema and Cultural Politics in Cuba

The Dream That Kicks

The dream that kicks: The prehistory and early years of cinema in Britain

From Printing to Streaming: Cultural Production under Capitalism (Marxism and Culture)

From Printing to Streaming: Cultural Production under Capitalism (Marxism and Culture)

Memories Of Underdevelopment (Rutgers Films in Print)

Memories Of Underdevelopment (Rutgers Films in Print series)

Cuban Cinema (Volume 14) (Cultural Studies of the Americas)

Cuban Cinema (Cultural Studies of the Americas) (Volume 14)