ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWLY PUBLISHED HANDBOOK
ON DOCUMENTARY AND ETHNOGRAPHIC FILMMAKING
"Cross-Cultural Filmmaking:
A Handbook for Making Documentary and Ethnographic Films and Videos"
by Ilisa Barbash & Lucien Taylor
Paper (flexi-cover): $24.95 (ISBN: 0-520-08760-7)
Cloth: $65.00 (ISBN: 0-520-08759-3)
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997
584 pp., 7 x 10", 56 b/w photographs, 24 line illustrations, 2 tables
Order information:
Toll-free telephone (U.S. and Canada): 1 800 777 4726
Telephone: (1) 609 883 1759
Toll-free fax: 1 800 999 1958
Dust jacket copy:
This handbook is for anyone who wants to make or study documentary and
ethnographic films and videos. It provides a step-by-step guide to film-
and video-making -- from research and funding, through the "nuts and bolts"
of production, to distribution -- as well as a thorough orientation to the
ethical and aesthetic issues that confront documentarians in the field.
Filled
with practical illustrations, state-of-the-art technical information, and
advice from numerous leading filmmakers and anthropologists, this book is
the essential guide for veteran and beginner alike.
"Anthropology needs an up-to-date manual of filmmaking. Fifty years ago
Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson demonstated what film can do for
ethnography. It was daringly novel then, but times have changed, the
technology has changed, and now every fieldworker expects to be able to
work in this new medium. In presenting the new technology and the history
of ethnographic filmmaking together, 'Cross-Cultural Filmmaking'
represents a coming-of-age for anthropology."
-- Mary Douglas, author of "Purity and Danger"
"This is an extraordinarily valuable work that many of us have been
waiting for. Gracefully integrating the most progressive ideas about what
ethnographic media could still be, this volume provides a thorough account
of the use of film and video as a mode of ethnography as well as a nearly
irresistible enticement to give it a try."
-- George Marcus, Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, Rice
University
"'Cross-Cultural Filmmaking' is the definitive guide to making an
informed and savvy contribution to the 'photochemical permeation of the
world'."
-- Paul Rabinow, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of
California, Berkeley
"'Cross-Cultural Filmmaking' is an excellent book. It provides a wealth
of sensible and perceptive advice in a calm jargon-free style. Beautifully
organized and filled with instructive examples, it deals with the whole
range of visual, financial, ethical and aesthetic issues in documentary
filmmaking in considerable depth. It will immediately become the standard
manual for teachers and filmmakers."
-- Alan Macfarlane, Professor of Anthropological Science, Cambridge
University
"Here is the definitive A-Z of documentary filmmaking. No stone is left
unturned, no truth unshared, and fresh insight informs every chapter.
Student fiction filmmakers should also savor this book, because only if your
dramatic film achieves a real sense of actuality... can you begin to
convince your audience."
-- Mike Leigh, director of "Secrets and Lies"
"Barbash and Taylor have created a thinking person's guide to documentary
filmmaking. Not only is it required reading for any student who wants to
learn production techniques, but it offers an indispensable refresher-course
for seasoned documentary filmmakers who wnat to catch up on the latest
critical thinking about their practice."
-- Ruby Rich, film critic
"'Cross-Cultural Filmmaking' is the ideal 'how to' companion for the
serious documentarian and ethnographic filmmaker. Informed by theory,
seasoned by experience, and sensitive to issues of cultural difference,
this book enlarges our underastanding of documentary production as
both creative art and social praxis."
-- Bill Nichols, author of "Representing Reality" and "Blurred Genres"
Order information:
Toll-free telephone (U.S. and Canada): 1 800 777 4726
Telephone: (1) 609 883 1759
Toll-free fax: 1 800 999 1958
********************************************************
JAY RUBY - Temple University - PO Box 128, Mifflintown, PA 17059
USA fax - 717-436-9559 voice - 717-436-9502
My Web page is http://www.temple.edu/anthro/ruby/jayruby.html
In-Reply-To: 199709192204.PAA25232@abraham.xc.org