Amad - Counter-Archive

C O U N T E R - A R C H I V E

FILM & CULTURE SERIES

JOHN BELTON, GENERAL EDITOR

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS | NEW YORK

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Copyright 2010 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved

E-ISBN 978-0-231-50907-7

The author and Columbia University Press gratefully acknowledge
the support of the University of Iowa Office of the Vice President
for Research in the publication of this book.

Frontispiece: Photography of original autochrome boxes at
Muse Albert-Kahn by Nick Yablon.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Amad, Paula.
Film, the everyday, and Albert Kahns Archives de la Plante / Paula Amad.
p. cm. (Film and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-13500-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-231-13501-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-231-50907-7 (e-book)
1. Actualities (Motion pictures)History and criticism.
2. Archives de la Plante. 3. Kahn, Albert, 1860-1940. I. Title. II. Series.

PN1995.9.D6A43 2010
791.433DC22

2010018855

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TO NICK

CONTENTS

THIS BOOK IS INDEBTED to the scholarship and teaching of Tom Gunning and Miriam Hansen. From the moment he kindly offered me a tape of the Kahn films to investigate, Toms intellectual generosity, curiosity, and guidance enabled me to pursue and finish the first version of this project. I am equally grateful for his patient and helpful advice over the years. Miriam first introduced me to the pleasures and peculiarities of silent cinema. She has been a constant source of intellectual and personal inspiration as well as a warm and caring friend and mentor. Thanks also to the helpful suggestions I received early on from Leora Auslander, Homi Bhabha, and James K. Chandler at the University of Chicago.

The project has developed significantly beyond its first version. For generously reading and providing feedback on sections of the current book, I am grateful to my colleagues at the University of Iowa, Steve Choe, Lauren Rabinovitz, and Steve Ungar. Thanks also to Rick Altman, Corey Creekmur, Kathleen Newman, Russell Valentino, and especially Kathy Lavezzo, for their support during the books completion, and to Erica Stein for her help with the proofreading.

The decade-long research for this book would not have been possible without the generous help and expert knowledge of the present and former directors of the Muse Albert Kahn in Boulogne, Gilles Baud-Berthier and Jeanne Beausoleil. Special thanks go to their team, including Flore Herv and Jocelyne Leclerq, and especially Frdrique Le Bris, for welcoming me on numerous occasions to the museum and for dealing with my endless requests. Beyond the Kahn museum, the majority of primary research was conducted at various sites of the Bibliothque Nationale Franaise, the Bibliothque du Film at the Cinmathque Franaise, the Bois dArcy Film Archives, and the Fort dIvry tablissement de Communication et de Production Audiovisuelle de la Dfense. For helpful conversations and suggestions during my Paris research trips, I would like to thank Yannick Bellon, Christa Blmlinger, Franois de la Bretque, Batrice de Pastre, Philippe Dubois, Christophe Gauthier, Nolle Giret, Christophe Karabache, Michle Lagny, Magdalena Mazaraki, Eric LeRoy, and Dimitri Verzyroglou.

Diverse funding sources have been central to the research for this book. I am grateful to the American National Can Dissertation Fellowship for 2000, and most importantly, the Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship for 20062007, which gave me the much-needed time to develop key areas of research. Thanks also to the University of Iowa Office of the Vice President for Research for a book subvention grant.

The project has benefited greatly from the responses, advice, and criticism of many people at various workshops, conferences, and presentations in America and Europe. I would like to thank in particular Richard Abel, Jennifer Bean, Angela dalle Vacche, Lorraine Daston, Jane Gaines, Oliver Gaycken, Alison Griffiths, Richard Grusin, Sabine Haenni, Gregg Mitman, Bill Nichols, Jennifer Peterson, Michael Renov, Catherine Russell, Dan Streible, Yuri Tsivian, Haidee Wasson, and Kelley Wilder. For being wonderful colleagues to me during my year at Indiana University, Bloomington, a warm thanks to Barb Klinger and Jim Naremore. And for their early and ongoing encouragement, thanks to Terry Collits and John Hartley. I would also like to thank the committee who awarded me the Honorable Mention in the 2003 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Dissertation Award and the suggestions in their report that encouraged me to develop specific areas of the project.