The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema

by ans-Michael Bock (Editor), im Bergfelder (Editor)

Overview

This comprehensive guide is an ideal reference work for film specialists and enthusiasts. First published in 1984 but continuously updated ever since, CineGraph is the most authoritative and comprehensive encyclopedia on German-speaking cinema in the German language. This condensed and substantially revised English-language edition makes this important resource available to students and researchers for the first time outside its German context. It offers a representative historical overview through bio-filmographical entries on the main protagonists, from the beginnings to the present day. Included are directors and actors, writers and cameramen, composers and production designers, film theorists and critics, producers and distributors, inventors and manufacturers. An appendix includes short introductory essays on specific periods and movements, such as Early Film, Weimar, Nazi Cinema, DEFA, New German Cinema, and German film since unification, as well as on cinematic developments in Austria and Switzerland. Sections that crossreference names around specific professional groups and themes will prove equally invaluable to researchers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781571816559
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Series:	Film Europa , #1
Pages:	600
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 10.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Hans-Michael Bock, General Editor, is editor of the encyclopaedia CineGraph - Lexikon zum deutschsprachigen Film, a reference work for German language film history published since 1984. He is also co-founder and board member of the research institute CineGraph - Hamburgisches Centrum für Filmforschung which was founded in 1989 by the editors of the CineGraph encyclopaedia in order to intensify research of German film history in the European and transcontinental context.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements

Introduction

Guidelines for using Filmographies
List of Abbreviations

Encyclopaedia: Names A-Z

Appendix: Historical and Thematic Contexts

• Pioneers and Early Film: Wilhelmine Cinema
• Weimar
• Nazi Cinema
• Rubble Films
• DEFA and East German Cinema
• West German Film
• German Cinema Since Unification
• Austria
• Switzerland
• Exile and Transnational Traffic
• Other Themes, Genres, and Professions
   

Editorial Reviews

" What distinguishes the Concise CineGraph is the careful targeting of its entries towards anglophone readers. The original German entries were substantially revised for this volume, and it includes an excellent Appendix detailing German film's historical and thematic contexts'. The volume also enacts the turn to cultural diversity and transnationalism to which many contemporary film histories merely pay lip service. " . Modern Language Review

..".for the scholar or student who seeks reliable biographical information about people involved in film production and criticism in German-speaking countries, The Concise CineGraphwill be an indispensable resource. The entries provide some fascinating facts about filmmaker careers, and include much information not available anywhere online, particularly in English. The entries are wide-ranging and give equal emphasis to well known and lesser-known personalities." . German Quarterly

"For a college library with programs in film studies or German studies, this book is a must, and anyone teaching a course related to German cinema should include it as part of their course reserves. The appendix will prove particularly useful for students and teachers seeking concise, introductory readings about certain periods of German cinema." . H-German

..".a fascinating, information filled encyclopedia of names associated with the German cinema...an exceptional resource which covers German cinema from its beginnings through today. It's a massive, nearly 3 pound work which anyone with a serious interested in the subject will want to own. If you've ever attended a screening of The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari or Nosferatu or Diary of a Lost Girl and wanted to know more about the individuals behind the work on the screen then this is the book for you. Plus, it has a rather nifty cover." . Examiner.com

..".what is important here is the quality of the analysis in even the briefest of its entries. Also, particularly useful are the essays provided in the appendix..., which give excellent starting points for readers wishing to examine any period of German cinema, providing concise and informative introductions along with suggestions for further reading and a checklist of important names and films...[It] is admirably broad in its outlook." . Monatshefte

"Imposing in its impeccable scholarship and impressive in its literate accessibility, this is a magisterial who's who of German cinema...a superb resource and students and cineastes alike will find much excellent and accurate information on such key names as Fritz Lang, GW Pabst, Ernst Lubitsch, FW Murnau, Leni Riefenstahl, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Michael Haneke and Fatih Akin. It's also an irresistible browse that soon has one wishing that more German cinema was available on DVD in this country."."Oxford Times

"It's a godsend that they have brought out this wonderful document...Hardcore information of this sort is incredibly important for the film historian and film students and sometimes even the film-maker, and it is gaining in value as the practitioners of 20th-century cinema disappear."."Kevin Brownlow, film historian, author, and filmmaker"

From the Publisher