"These seminal texts by pioneering filmmaker and feminist Germaine Dulac will be of great interest to film scholars and cinephiles alike. From theoretical essays on the avant-garde to those asserting the value of documentaries for society, Germaine Dulac determines to elevate cinema as art and to engage the public in the process." - Mayann De Julio, Professor of French Departmetn of Modern Language Studies, Kent State University
"I am delighted to find Germaine Dulac's important writings on the cinema are now available in English and accessible on line. When I first began work on this seminal filmmaker 45 years ago almost all of her critical theoretical writing and all but two of her films were inaccessible. At the time, Prosper Hillairet's magisterial book published by Paris Expérimental provided a much-needed collection of Dulac's texts, but they were all in French. Paris Expérimantal has done us all a great favour by updating, translating, and putting everything on e-book so that we all may see the visionalry brilliance of this pioneering feminist filmmaker." - Sandy Flitterman-Lewis, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Rutgers University
"Germanine Dulac is amongst the most important figures of French silent cinema, even world cinem tout court. An adventurous filmmaker, subtle theoretician, and powerful feminist with a non-conforming sexuality, she bridged 'Impressionist' and Surrealist cinema, ending her career with documentary films in the politically turbulent 1930s. Her writings, made available in English for the first time in an excellent translation by Scott Hammen, are simply a must-have for any scholar or lover of cinema as well as for scholars of gender and sexuality.
Paris Expériamental and Prosper Hillairet were instrumental in the revival of Dulac's standing in world cinema history, and they are to be lauded for offering her complete writings to the English-speaking readers. Dulac was a giant - as her main specialist in the US, professor Tami M Williams has advocated for decades - and it's time her writings and ehr films were taken into account." - Christophe Wall-Romana, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota
Table of Contents
Letter from Gilles Deleuze to Prosper Hillairet
Dulac's Ecrits (Foreword) by Tami M Williams
Germaine Dulac, a modern filmmaker (Preface 2018) by Prosper Hillairet
For an unbound cinema (Preface 1994) by Prosper Hillairet
1919: Let Us Have Faith
1921: At D. W. Griffith's
1922: The Creation of a Cinematic Vocabulary
1923: G. Dulac Interview With P. Desclaux
1924: The Expressive Process of Cinematography / How I Became a Film "Director" / Images and Rhythms / Motion as Creator of Action
1925: Cinema, an Art of Spiritual Nuance / The True Spirit of the Seventh Art / Defence and Attack of Cinema / About Âme d'artiste: Mme Germaine Dulac's Ideas / Aphorisms / The Essence of Cinema - the Visual Idea
1926: Every Film Is Linked to an Aesthetic / Concessions / Difficulties / Some Reflections on "Pure Cinema" / The French Cinema as Seen by Mme Germaine Dulac / Photography - Cinegraphy
1927: The Future of Cinema / On Russian Films / From a Sentiment to a Line / Conversation / Let Us Unite / With Mme Germaine Dulac / Visualization / Aesthetics, Obstacles
1928: Music of Silence / Three Encounters with Loie Fuller / Rhythm and Technique / Our Inquiries in to "Talking Film" / Visual and Anti-Viisual Film / Talking Film... Color Film / Some Reflections on Quotas / Are You Afraid of Cinema?
1929: Proportions / "Playing With Noises" / Notes of Germaine Dulac
1930: What Do You Think of Color Film? / The Public's Responsibility / Germaine Dulac and the Cinema Today
1931: The New Evolution / The Necessary Evolution / Within Its Visual Frame Cinema Has No Limits / The Success of a Film? / Our Goodwill Is Extended to the Triumph of an Idea / Independance / The Action of the Cinematic Avant-Garde / The Meaning of Cinema
1932: What Is Cinema? / The Avant-Garde Cinema
1933: For or Against Film Censorship? / The Difficulties of Cinematic Journalism / On the Utility of Film Schools
1934: Newsreels / Newsreels Are Not Always What They Should Be / The Social and Educational Advantage of Newsreels
1936: The New Dramatic Art of Color / Let Us Unite / An Opinion from Germaine Dulac / Considerarions on the Cinema Newsreel
1937: The Work of Cinema Is Finished When the Show Begins /
