Bøker av Ian Christie

Film has long been defined as a temporal art, most famously by André Bazin and Andrei Tarkovsky. Yet more fundamentally it has always been a spatial art, transporting its audiences imaginatively to spaces and places other than those they literally inhabit. In the digital era, this spatial illusion and paradox has been greatly expanded - by the predominance of domestic film viewing, along with new extra-terrestrial perspectives, and the promise of novel kinesthetic experiences with Virtual Reality and "immersion". The international authors in this collection address the history and aesthetics of screen media as spatial transposition, in a range of exemplary analyses that run from the landscapes of John Ford's westerns to Chantal Akerman's claustrophobic domestic spaces, from the conventions of the English country house film to Patrick Keiller's Robinson roaming a changed country, and from the experiences of Covid pandemic confinement to those of un-homed van-dwellers in Chloe Zhao's award-winning NOMADLAND.

Produced in the aftermath of the Second World War, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946) stars David Niven as an RAF pilot poised between life and death, his love for the American radio operator June (Kim Hunter) threatened by medical, political and ultimately celestial forces. The film is a magical, profound fantasy and a moving evocation of English history and the wartime experience, with virtuoso Technicolor special effects. In the United States it was released under the title Stairway to Heaven, referencing one of its most famous images, a moving stairway between earth and the afterlife.Ian Christie's study of the film shows how its creators drew upon many sources and traditions to create a unique form of modern masque, treating contemporary issues with witty allegory and enormous visual imagination. He stresses the teamwork of Powell and Pressburger's gifted collaborators, among them Director of Photography Jack Cardiff, production designer Alfred Junge, and costume designer Hein Heckroth, and explores the history of both British and international responses to the film. Christie argues that the film deserves to be thought of as one of the greatest achievements of British cinema, but of all cinema.

This work provides a comprehensive documentary history of Russian and Soviet cinema. Based on extensive research and in original translation, the documents selected illustrate both the aesthetic and political development of Russian and Soviet cinema.

Following the release of "Gangs of New York", this is an updated edition of the study of America's foremost film director. It offers Martin Scorsese in his own words and is an insight into a body of work that is perhaps the most personal achievement in modern American cinema.

What is it about the Franklin dynasty?Handsome, highly sexed, bright and adventurous, these men (and women) are driven to fly in planes and spacecraft, to slip the surly bonds of Earth and touch the face of the unknown...Two close friends, Helen and Diana, meet trouble as the year 2000 approaches. Diana succumbs to an illness, and later Helen, married to space ace Bob Franklin, is faced with a momentous asteroid shower that finally puts paid to Earth. Luckily, she and Bob are chosen for an escape probe that sets off into space.And 1500 years later, another Bob Franklin gets the call to return home to Earth. Who does he find there, and why is it so important for him to stay?Ian Christie's trilogy uses science fiction to explore genetic inheritance, intertwining lives and love that endures across logical limits. Time shift is one thing, but rekindling a flame after two millennia? The Franklin Saga holds plenty of surprises, a lot of insight, and an abundance of life's miracle ingredient. Read on...

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger formed one of the greatest creative partnerships in the history of British cinema - The Archers. This book is a comprehensive analysis of their films and a useful guide to their work.

This work distils the principles and priorities of many of the leading voluntary groups into a programme of political aims and actions. The problem can be measured as a "sustainability gap". With examples and short case studies, the book translates the gap into recommendations for progress.