Cinema and History: The Telling of Stories
As the fare currently on offer at this year's London Film Festival shows, getting history up on the big screen is very much in vogue at the moment. Between Frost/Nixon, The Baader-Meinhof Complex and W., recent events are almost constantly being reappropriated for the screen at the moment.
Mike Chopra-Gant, who teaches media, communication and cultural studies at London Met University, has written a concise, easy-to-read guide on history in cinema, which draws on literary theory and his own belief that the study of history in cinema - as well as the depictions themselves - owe much to literary methods. The book looks at the history of film studies as well as how history is re-imagined for the silver screen. There is also a bravura chapter on 9/11 footage and the slew of films it has inspired in less than a decade.
As part of the Short Cuts series of introductions to film studies, it's aimed at students, but is a good read for anyone interested in what happens when historical veracity and cinematic licence come together.
Cinema and History: The Telling of Stories, by Mike Chopra-Gant
Published by Wallflower Press
Available on amazon.co.uk for £12.99
To contact the author: