Le cinéclub comme institution du public : propositions pour une nouvelle histoire
The public of movies, i.e., the historical and social interlocutor of cinema reception - excluding the abstract, epistemic figure of the spectator – is not often present in most of the historical or theoretical researches on cinema. Film societies, which we propose as an institution created by the public, even less; they are practically forgotten in academic texts. It is this institution and the public that creates it the object we want to study from three different cases: the process of formation of the public which occurs simultaneously with the development of proto-cineclubists and films societies forms – in a period that coincides with that of the so-called pre-cinema, till early cinema or cinematography of attractions. Then we examine the transition period, or institutionalization process which leads to the formation and subsequent institutionalization of film societies. Finally, in a completely different context, we try to show the role of film societies in a moment of civil resistance when they are an essential part of civil society empowerment and its influence in the fall of the Brazilian military dictatorship. This study is presented in five parts. The Introduction situates the problem and briefly shows how it has been treated. Chapter 2 examines the formation of the public and the forgone forms of film societies. The following chapter (3) shows the constitution of the first film societies, concurrent and within the institutionalization process of the cinema. Chapter 4, from a totally different context, searches the same characteristics of public organization in the resistance of Brazilian civil society to the military dictatorship (1964-1985). A fifth part presents some conclusions and thoughts about the possibilities that this work can offer to future researches
Public Nickelodeon Spectator Film society Cineclubism Film societies movement Early cinema Institutionalisation of cinema Flm reception Cinematographic institution Hegemony Cultural studies