Directory of World Cinema: Italy

You may be interested to know that Intellect Books’ forthcoming Directory of World Cinema: Italy contains a chapter on the Spaghetti Western edited by little old me and containing film reviews by Christopher Frayling and SWDB’s very own Phil Hardcastle (and me). The volume as a whole is a collection of writing from leading scholars in the field of Italian cinema, but is aimed at a broader public than academia so should be exciting and - most importantly - readable.

I’ve put more details up on my blog here: http://www.austinfisher.me.uk/2010/12/directory-of-world-cinema-italy-2/[/url]

The volume is released in May and (whisper) will be available for free pdf download for a limited time. I’ll post a link (end whisper). It can also be pre-ordered from Amazon at a fairly reasonable price if you prefer to get your hands on hard-copy books:

[url=http://www.amazon.com/Directory-World-Cinema-Italy-IB/dp/1841504009/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1294826318&sr=8-7]http://www.amazon.com/Directory-World-Cinema-Italy-IB/dp/1841504009/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1294826318&sr=8-7[url]http://www.austinfisher.me.uk/2010/12/directory-of-world-cinema-italy-2/[/url]

Hi all. Just to let you know: at long last, this book is now on sale ([url]Amazon.com). It seems that the publishers are no longer doing their free pdfs, so apologies for a false promise. The volume as a whole deals with the sweep of Italian cinema, though I’d obviously be especially interested to hear thoughts on the Spaghetti Westerns chapter.

Oh, and I managed to get a mention for the SWDB inserted in the “Recommended Italian cinema websites” section at the back.

This is an excellent, scholarly and readable addition to the World Cinema series by Intellect Press. It has stills from films, reviews, analyses of major directors, and discussions of popular Italian cinema as well as the melodramas and classics of the neorealist period. The top names in Italian film sholarship have contributed, and Louis Bayman has introduced the book and tied it together elegantly.

Good work, fellows. Only had the briefest of glimpses so far (in a book shop), but kudos for continuing to spread the good word. I look forward to picking up a copy for myself.