Filmmakers’ Theories

This book focuses on cinematic thought as defined by its creators, giving priority to those who have articulated it in an original form. Not all filmmakers fit this description, of course, since many of the great directors began their engagement with film theory by reflecting on their own artistic practices and by shaping their concepts into ideas that could be shared with others.

Few, like Ford, Orson Welles, or Michelangelo Antonioni, ever looked back on their careers with a clear theoretical memory of cinema. Yet we cannot deny that they remain among the greatest masters in the field.

However, we may find it more difficult to identify directors who are, first and foremost, “theorists” — those who possess a personal and independent set of ideas that mediate their creative work. In practice, most filmmakers aspire for their cinema to be “theoretical,” at least in the sense of being understood, articulated, and valued as such. But at the very least, they allow us the hope that their work might indeed be cinema.