An authoritative and much-needed overview of the main issues in the field of early cinema from over 30 leading international scholars in the field

  • First collection of its kind to offer in one reference: original theory, new research, and reviews of existing studies in the field
  • Features over 30 original essays from some of the leading scholars in early cinema and Film Studies, including Tom Gunning, Jane Gaines, Richard Abel, Thomas Elsaesser, and André Gaudreault
  • Caters to renewed interest in film studies’ historical methods, with strict analysis of multiple and competing sources, providing a critical re-contextualization of films, printed material and technologies
  • Covers a range of topics in early cinema, such as exhibition, promotion, industry, pre-cinema, and film criticism
  • Broaches the latest research on the subject of archival practices, important particularly in the current digital context


André Gaudreault is Professor in Film Studies at the Université de Montréal, where he heads the research group GRAFICS (Groupe de recherche sur l’avènement et la formation des institutions cinématographique et scénique). He is also director of the bilingual journal Cinémas, published in Montreal. He has presented numerous scholarly papers and published extensively on film narration and early cinema.

Nicolas Dulac is Lecturer in Film Studies at the Université de Montréal. He has published on early cinema and turn-of-the-century popular culture in journals such as 1895 Revue d’Histoire du Cinéma, Cinema & Cie, and Early Popular Visual Culture.

Santiago Hidalgo is Lecturer in Film Studies at the Université de Montréal. He has published on early cinema, film criticism, and film historiography in Cinémas and in conference proceedings for events in Udine, Italy and Cerisy, France.

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