With modern film criticism and theory on UK broadcast television limited to the insipid Mark Kermode and the pointless Matthew Sweet on the BBC, and virtually nothing on other channels, this documentary series seems as much part of yesteryear as the early silents and talkies it so fondly recalls. this current deficit of intellectual discourse on mainstream television can only damage the cinematic awareness of the next generation of mass audio-visual professionals – without knowledge of cinema’s true beginnings and evolution, they will unconsciously subscribe to and perpetuate the myth of Hollywood domination.
Co-directed by film historian and sometime filmmaker Brownlow, Cinema Europe cherishes the originality and artistry of early cinema from the region. The series is subtitled “The Other Hollywood” and clearly documents the unfortunate series of events that lead to film production in countries like France, Germany and the United Kingdom to grind to a sickeningly portentous halt: the Second World War was around the corner and, like the continent itself, cinema and filmmaking in Europe was to change forever, eventually dwindling into the degrading, cowardly scenario that we have today. Programmes like Cinema Europe not only look to the past but, by showing us what was once possible on our home turf, offer an alternative future to the one currently predicted by the likes of The Culture Show (2004-Present) and The Film Programme (1971-Present) – the new frontrunner of which will undoubtedly be one of the BBC’s many populist, light-hearted idiots.
Cinema Europe at the IMDb
Cinema Europe (1995; dir. Kevin Brownlow and Dan Carter)
With modern film criticism and theory on UK broadcast television limited to the insipid Mark Kermode and the pointless Matthew Sweet on the BBC, and virtually nothing on other channels, this documentary series seems as much part of yesteryear as the early silents and talkies it so fondly recalls. this current deficit of intellectual discourse on mainstream television can only damage the cinematic awareness of the next generation of mass audio-visual professionals – without knowledge of cinema’s true beginnings and evolution, they will unconsciously subscribe to and perpetuate the myth of Hollywood domination.
Co-directed by film historian and sometime filmmaker Brownlow, Cinema Europe cherishes the originality and artistry of early cinema from the region. The series is subtitled “The Other Hollywood” and clearly documents the unfortunate series of events that lead to film production in countries like France, Germany and the United Kingdom to grind to a sickeningly portentous halt: the Second World War was around the corner and, like the continent itself, cinema and filmmaking in Europe was to change forever, eventually dwindling into the degrading, cowardly scenario that we have today. Programmes like Cinema Europe not only look to the past but, by showing us what was once possible on our home turf, offer an alternative future to the one currently predicted by the likes of The Culture Show (2004-Present) and The Film Programme (1971-Present) – the new frontrunner of which will undoubtedly be one of the BBC’s many populist, light-hearted idiots.
Cinema Europe at the IMDb
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