The Personal Camera: Subjective Cinema and the Essay Film

Nonfictions

by Laura Rascaroli

The Personal Camera is an exploration of an elusive but more and more compelling field: essayistic cinema. The essay film, together with its cognate forms--the diary, the travelogue, the notebook and the self-portrait--is cinema in the first person. It is a cinema of thought, of investigation and self-reflection, in which the filmmaker, instead of withdrawing behind the camera, comes out into the open, to say 'I', to take responsibility, and to address and engage with the spectator within a shared space of embodied subjectivity. Authorial, experimental and radical, essayistic cinema belongs within the lineage of avant-garde and political filmmaking and responds above all to the need we feel today for more contingent, autobiographical, private forms of expression. This study provides a unique insight into an intricate but fascinating field, by engaging with the work of directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Chris Marker, Harun Farocki, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Alexander Sokurov, Michelangelo Antonioni, Derek Jarman, Federico Fellini, Wim Wenders, Jonas Mekas and Agn's Varda.

Genres: Film, Art

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[BonGard · Rating 3 out of 5]

مطالعه ترجمه فارسی به قلم محمدرضا فرزاد
یک. ترجمه مترجم ترجمه خوبی است فقط نیاز بود به یک مسئله اشاره کنم که سبک ترجمه بیشتر از اینکه به متن آکادمیک نزدیک باشد به متن ادبی نزدیک است که ممکن است کار را برای مخاطبی که از موضوع دور است سخت کند
دو. متن اصلی به دو بخش فیلم جستار و فیلم‌های شبه فیلم جستار تقسیم شده که حرکت خوبی است و برای کسانی که بدنبال آشنایی اولیه با این شکل از فیلمسازیند خوب است اما نگاه راسکارلی اکثرن اروپایی محور است و اینجا جایی است که من مثال‌های او را دوست ندارم و خب نویسنده تشخیص می‌دهد مارکر، پازولینی، سوخورف و آنتونیونی ارزش تحلیل دارند و باقی فیلمسازان جستار فقط نیاز به اشاره دارند. برای کتابی که می‌خاهد جنبه‌های مختلفی از جستار را نشان دهد، کتاب مشخصن فقط تمرکزی اروپایی محور دارد و مثال‌هایی که می‌زند تنوعی ندارند و نهایتن فقط یک یا دو شکل از فیلم مقاله ساختن را توضیح می‌دهند.

[Derek Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really informative regarding the mode of filmmaking which has more likely than not become the norm given the amount of content constantly being uploaded to YouTube. I wish I had been more diligent about reading this when it was assigned in one of my college classes but ultimately I'm glad I hung onto it and read it now after my tastes have matured more. Looking forward to watching a number of the films discussed here.

[Julie Perini · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second half of this book - on the Diary Film, Notebook Film, and Self-Portrait Film - has been the single best resource for me as I create an epic diary film out of 11+ years of daily shooting of my life. Rascaroli has done her homework and synthesized the info and offes up helpful frameworks and questions and insights about these very personal forms. Grazie mille, Laura!