• Preface


• 1: Introduction: what is Cinema?


• 2: Technologies


• 3: Industry


• 4: Aesthetics


• 5: Cinema and the outer world


• 6: Shaping the imaginary


• 7: Seven epochs


• 8: Conclusion


• Further reading


• Index

Professor Geoffrey Nowell-Smith is one of the leading scholars in film studies. During his long academic career he taught film studies in various universities in Britain and the US, and from 1978-1989 he was Head of Education and then Head of Publishing at the British Film Institute. He has authored and edited a number of books, including The Oxford History of World Cinema (OUP, 1996) and Making Waves: New Wave, Neorealism, and the New Cinemas of the 1960s (Bloomsbury, 2007).

In this Very Short Introduction Geoffrey Nowell-Smith defines the field of cinema, and explores its fascinating history within the cultural and aesthetic sphere. Considering the influences of the other art forms from which it arose, he looks at how technological advances have opened up new horizons for the cinema industry.