STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Film Histor/y/ies

After the seminal FIAF conference held in Brighton, England in 1978, many substantial changes have occured in film historiography. Along with the correction of factual mistakes of the older generation of film historians, but their methodological approach has also been put to question. Revisionist historians today reject the notion of history as a story with its teleological premise which suggests that cinema as such has it intrinsic purpose and that historical development of the medium is a fulfilment of that purpose.

Drawing on a wide range of historical material and evidence, they usually concentrate on a smaller problem or a shorter period in history which is then finely discussed into depth taking into account as many social, economic and cultural influences as possible. The scholars are researching all aspects of cinema: production, distribution, exhibition, audience response and social and cultural impact of the medium. In this essay are given examples from recent film historiography ranging from reception studies and dicoursive practices of the early cinema to the metahistorical discussions concerning the history of film style.

Boris Vidović