Introduction to a True History of Cinema and Television

This is a major event in film studies: we hear as if for the first time the live pulse of Godard’s lectures and discussions in Montreal in 1978—a series of fourteen meetings that pave the way for the eight chapters of his Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988–1998). Timothy Barnard conveys brilliantly Godard’s mercurial thought in action, even at its most hesitant, contradictory and ambivalent. This wonderfully accessible and superbly edited translation restores missing material and conversations that were not transcribed in the original 1980 French edition, the illustrations of which are reproduced here with translated captions. Michael Witt’s magisterial introductory essay to the volume on the dense archaeology of Histoire(s) complements the translation perfectly in its intellectual commitment and rigour. Previously unavailable to the Anglo-Saxon reader, this now fully complete volume will prove indispensable to anyone seriously interested in the history and philosophy of film.
— James Williams, Royal Holloway, University of London