Performing Arts > Film

"Story" deciphers the guiding structural principles that animate every classical and award-winning film, ranging from "Citizen Kane" through to modern acclaimed works like "The English Patient".

Dishing with abandon, the authors spare no one--especially not the dead...and Volume One is only the tip of the iceberg. (NY DAILY NEWS) This monumentally exhaustive collection of sins, foibles, failings, and sexual adventures is the ultimate guilty pleasure. (BOOKS TO WATCH OUT FOR) Many of Hollywood's most outrageous secrets remained hidden. Until now. This series has set the graves of Hollywood's cemeteries spinning. (London's DAILY EXPRESS)

*The non-fiction, real-life Bridget Jones.

With hundreds of photographs and an informative text, "80 Years of the Oscar" takes readers behind the scenes, from the first awards show in 1928 to this year's 80th anniversary.

Called "the best literary gift to travelers since the Baedeker and Henry James" (Financial Times), City Secrets guides are charming travelers' companions to the world's most fascinating cities. In New York, London, Rome, Florence, and Venice, City Secrets offers reflections and discoveries from the authors, artists, and historians who know each city best. Movies takes this intimate, insider's approach to the arts, featuring brief essays and recommendations by esteemed figures in the film industry--including actors, directors, produ... read more

Following the successful formula of previous Phaidon "10x10" titles, this new book in the series will present 100 of the world's most exceptional emerging film directors, selected by internationally prominent festival directors including Frederic Maire/Locarno, Piers Handling & Cameron Bailey/Toronto, Sergio Wolf/Buenos Aires, Wieland Speck/Berlin, Kim Dong-Ho/Pusan, Korea, Marco Muller/Venice, Michel Ouedraogo/Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and Li Cheuk-to/Hong Kong. Arranged alphabetically by film director, the book explores the work... read more

Lights, camera, action...enter "The Film Book", stage left. Step into the world of cinema with "The Film Book" - the films, the directors, the genres and the styles. Profiling 100 of the world's most influential directors and 100 key cinematic works, the book will take you through the changing experience of cinema from the earliest silent movies to the modern 3D cinematic phenomenon. Covering every national school of film-making from Hollywood to Bollywood the book is a great browse bible with "Top 10" and "What to Watch" feature b... read more

For more than forty years, generations of movie lovers have relied upon Leonard Maltin to help them decide what to watch. Comprehensive, trustworthy, and the most established guide on the market, "Leonard Maltin's 2012 Movie Guide" includes: more than 10,000 DVD and 14,000 video listings; an updated index of leading performers and an index of leading directors; old and new theatrical and video releases rated **** to BOMB; reviews of little-known sleepers, foreign films, rarities, and camp classics; all-new personal recommendations ... read more

Essays examining the work of maverick scientific documentary filmmaker Jean Painleve.

The magazine world's monthly arbiter of culture, personality and world affairs, "Vanity Fair" has always offered the definitive insider's look at Hollywood power and glamour since its re-launch twenty-five years ago. Now, for the first time ever, "Vanity Fair" presents a one-of-a-kind collection featuring thirteen behind-the-scenes stories on some of cinema's most iconic films - including pictures as varied as "All About Eve", "Cleopatra", "Sweet Smell of Success", "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Saturday Night Fever". For pop-culture... read more

Everything you need to know about the movies you simply must see. Whether you want to look up particular details about a film you thought you knew by heart, or you simply cannot decide what film to watch tonight, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die is the only film guide you need. Open the book at any page and you will find a major film's vital statistics, together with an engaging and insightful review, and some intriguing facts about it that might surprise you. Illustrated throughout with evocative movie stills, this highly b... read more

The "New York Times" bestselling movie guide from the household name in film criticism <br> Consulted more frequently than ever in this era of Netflix as "the" resource, Leonard Maltinas "New York Times" bestselling film guide remains the most complete, most reliable, and most authoritative resource for movie reviews. Including more than 17,000 films, the 2010 edition features more than 300 new entries, 10,000 DVD and 14,000 video li... read more

On the 8th of October 1934, long before the wider world knew him from his Letter from America broadcasts, his television series "America", or his introductions to Masterpiece Theatre, Alistair Cooke sat down at a BBC microphone to give his first radio talk. His subject was cinema. Cooke began film reviewing in the 1920s as a Cambridge undergraduate, and continued to broadcast on cinema from New York. Under his watchful gaze, Hollywood reached its Golden Age, only to be tarnished by television; he clocked every new technological dev... read more

Audition Speeches for 6-16 Year Olds offers a generous helping of carefully selected speeches that children can prepare for auditions. Each speech is introduced with commentary to set the scene and help the young actor.

Maus is widely renowned as one of the greatest pieces of art and literature ever written about the Holocaust. It is adored by readers and studied in colleges and universities all over the world. But what led Art Spiegelman to tell his father's story in the first place? Why did he choose to depict the Jews as mice? How could a comic book confront the terror and brutality of the worst atrocity of the twentieth century? To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the book's first publication, MetaMaus, prepared by the author, is a vital co... read more

'Fish-faced moll', 'rooting machine', 'melting our tits off': with its raw, in-your-face dialogue, Bruce Beresford's film 'Puberty Blues' has become a cult classic. Based on the autobiographical novel by the outrageous Salami Sisters Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey, 'Puberty Blues' is a coming-of-age chick-flick with bite. Set in the 1970s, it follows the misadventures of Debbie and Sue, two Cronulla girls angling to break out of 'dickheadland' into the coolest surfie gang. But when they finally muscle their way in, Debbie and Sue ... read more

Raised by missionaries, Jimmie Blacksmith, a young half-castle Aboriginal man, is poignantly caught between the ways of his black forefathers and those of the white society to which he aspires. Exploited by his boss and betrayed by his [white] wife, he declares war on his white employers and goes on a violent killing spree.

Based on the celebrated novel by Kenneth Cook, Wake in Fright is a sharply observed drama about a schoolteacher stranded in a hostile country town. John Grant, a 'naive city-type', is stuck teaching in Tiboonda, a desolate outback town. En route to Sydney, he becomes stranded in Bundanyabba after losing all his money in a two-up game.

A mentally disturbed man takes his 14-year-old daughter and his six-year-old son into the desert supposedly for a picnic. He abruptly goes berserk, tries to shoot them, sets fire to the car and kills himself. A young Aboriginal man guides them in the way of survival in what becomes a ritual walkabout during which he courts the girl.

Internationally acclaimed photographer, videographer, and filmmaker Shirin Neshat first came to prominence in the mid-1990s when she exhibited her series the "Women of Allah," an extraordinary body of work exploring women in Islamic culture. Since then, the Iranian-born artist has continued to explore difficult subjects: the boundaries between East and West, men and women, the sacred and the profane, exile and belonging. Her work is marked by its graphic boldness and stirring imagery: photographs of women cloaked in black veils wit... read more