1.4 — Take the tint

How the Brighton School gave film a “language” (1896-1907)

Feb 3 • awful stack

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January 2026

1.3 – Extremity

How the close-up changed cinema (1900-1911)

Jan 27 • awful stack

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1.2 – Taking the storypill

Early film and the “invention” of narrative (1899-1906)

Jan 19 • awful stack

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1.1 – Fatal attractions

The birth of cinema in Belle Époque France (1888-1900)

Jan 11 • awful stack

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Introducing my lopsided history of film

My Substack is changing; we're heading into the past.

Jan 8 • awful stack

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The big sweat

Pores and paranoia in postwar Japanese cinema

Jan 5 • awful stack

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November 2025

Beneath the field, the soil!

Winstanley — Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo (1975)

Nov 27, 2025 • awful stack

Going underground (like the song)

Tube Film — Kimia Ipakchi & Orla Smith (2025)

Nov 25, 2025 • awful stack

October 2025

Structural film; with its clothes off.

Owen Land’s Dialogues (2009)

Oct 31, 2025 • awful stack

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Marcel Proust won’t go to the movies

He's busy.

Oct 28, 2025 • awful stack

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Christian Petzold crashes cars

And other stories of automobilic anarchism

Oct 15, 2025 • awful stack

September 2025

Self-portrait in a convex toilet bowl

At home with John Smith

Sep 22, 2025 • awful stack

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