Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Revolution in 35mm

A book I contributed to called Revolution in 35mm: Political Violence and Resistance in Cinema from the Arthouse to the Grindhouse, 1960-1990 has a release date of August 20th here in the US. The publisher is PM Press. I'm mentioning it here because PM Press is currently doing a pre-order Kickstarter campaign for the book. Basically, it's a campaign to get pre-orders that come with the offer of various rewards.


The book is a collection of essays about particular films from 1960 about 1990, films that looked at and explored political violence and resistance movements of the era whether they were arthouse type films or more exploitive fare. It concentrates on films related to the rise of protest movements by students, workers, and leftist groups as well as broader movements of the time like Black Power and the rise of feminism. There are pieces on films that focused on the violent guerilla strugges of the 1970s and 1980s, a time of groups like the Weathermen and the Black Liberation Army in the United States, the Red Army Faction in West Germany and Japan, and Italy's Red Brigades. 

There are twelve authors involved, and the editors of the book are Andrew Nette and Samm Deighan. It has loads of illustrations in it and delves into subgenres like spaghetti westerns, Italian poliziotteschi, and Blaxpoitation.

My piece is about two very different but equally challenging and subversive-minded directors from Brazil, Glauber Rocha and Jose Mojica Marins. One was a mainstay of the international art house circuit in the 1960s and 1970s (Rocha), and the other (Marins) was the alter ego of a great horror film character, Coffin Joe. These two, who knew each other and were friendly, both quite frequently ran afoul of Brazilian government film censors and had to struggle throughout their careers to get films made.

This should be a fascinating book, and I'm eager to read the whole thing through myself. If you feel so inclined, check out the Kickstarter.

Detailed information about the book can be found here: Revolution in 35mm.

The link for the Kickstarter campaign can be found here:



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