Cinemas of Paris

by Dina Iordanova (Editor), Paul-Raymond Cohen (Illustrator), Jean-Michel Frodon (Editor)

Paris, more than any other city on earth, offers a feast for cinema-goers. Cinema's place among the arts is special and far superior to that found anywhere else. The sheer number and variety of theatres dedicated to the diversity of the cinematic art and its pleasures, ensure an enduring festive spirit. Cineastes and cinephiles from the world over gather in Paris to indulge their appetites for film.


Conceived by film scholar Dina Iordanova and film critic and author Jean-Michel Frodon, known here, respectively, as the privileged outsider and the cognisant insider , Cinemas of Paris is a compendium of writings by specialists in both film and the city. Lavishly illustrated tales are told of the unique places where film is screened, chiefly the independent theatres with their often idiosyncratic backgrounds (and occasionally a few ghosts), but also about the city s unique cultural institutions and its ubiquitous multiplexes. And there are stories, too, of the men and the women who have made these places strongholds of cinematic discovery and delight, and who continue to keep cinema alive.

The 372 pages of the book feature contributions by international academics Sue Harris, William Brown, Daniel Fairfax, Michael Gott, Frances Guerin, Renaud Olivero, Ana Grgic, Flora Lichaa, and Yoana Pavlova, as well as by a number of world-renowned directors such as Amos Gitai, Gaston Kabore, Naomi Kawase, Jia Zhangke, Abbas Kiarostami, Ken Loach, Cristian Mungiu, Walter Salles, Gus Van Sant, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. It depicts and explains the complete system that allows such a diversity.

The book includes essays on a variety of cinematic institutions, including majors (UGC, Gaumont, Pathé), minimajors (MK2), prominent cultural venues (Cinémathèque Française, Forum des Images, Centre Pompidou), clusters of cinemas (Odéon Cinemas, les cinemas Action), essays on a wide selection of 35 unique cinemas (from L Arlequin to Les Ursulines, from Luminor to Etoile Lilas, from Le Grand Rex to Le Louxor...). And much more.

339 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2016

About the author

Dina Iordanova is Professor of Film Studies, University of St Andrews,and author of Cinema of Flames: Balkan Film, Culture and the Media. She is a global traveller.

Her current book, a labour of love, was conceived during one of her many visits to Paris, where she has been returning all over again for more than two decades. Although she has not yet managed to relocate herself physically, she is moving in her heart and soul's direction, with short spells for time out in other favourite places, like Istanbul and Hong Kong. Originally from a cinéphile family, she first studied Philosophy before running away from theory to indulge her passion for Cinema. Dina is the author, co-author and editor of many works, including: BFI Companion to Russian and Eastern European Cinema (1999), Cinema of Flames (2001), Emir Kusturica (2002), Cinema of the Other Europe (2003), Cinema of the Balkans (2006), The Film Festival Circuit (2009), Cinema at the Periphery (2010), Moving People, Moving Images (2010), Film Festivals and Imagined Communities (2010), Film Festivals and East Asia (2011), Film Festivals and Activism (2012), Digital Disruption (2012), Film Festival Reader (2013), Film Festivals and the Middle East (2014) and of many articles and chapters. She is Professor of Film Studies, and Director of the Institute for Global Cinema and Creative Cultures at the ancient University of St Andrews in Scotland, where she established the Film Studies programme in 2004.