Exposing the Film Apparatus
The Film Archive as a Research Laboratory
Giovanna Fossati
Annie van den Oever
9789462983168
478 pages
Amsterdam University Press
Overview
Film archives have long been dedicated to preserving movies, and they've been nimble in recent years in adapting to the changing formats and technologies through which cinema is now created and presented. This collection makes the case for a further step: the need to see media technologies themselves as objects of conservation, restoration, presentation, and research, in both film archives and film studies. Contributors with a wide range of expertise in the film and media world consider the practical and theoretical challenges posed by such conservation efforts and consider their potential to generate productive new possibilities in research and education in the field.
Author Bio
Giovanna Fossati is Professor of Media Heritage, Technology, and Culture at Utrecht University. Formerly Chief Curator of Eye Filmmuseum and Professor of Film Heritage at the University of Amsterdam, her research focuses on audiovisual archiving with a global and sustainable approach.
Annie van den Oever is Distinguished Visiting Professor (University of Johannesburg) and, until recently, Professor of Film (University Groningen) and Extraordinary Professor of Film and Visual Media (University of the Free State). She published Doing Experimental Media Archaeology: Theory in 2022, with Andreas Fickers, and Technics in 2024, with Nicholas Baer.
