Shadow Cinema: The Historical and Production Contexts of Unmade Films - Paperback

by James Fenwick (Editor), Kieran Foster (Editor), David Eldridge (Editor)

Filmmakers and cinema industries across the globe invest more time, money and creative energy in projects and ideas that never get produced than in the movies that actually make it to the screens. Thousands of projects are abandoned in pre-production, halted, cut short, or even made and never distributed - a "shadow cinema" that exists only in the archives.

This collection of essays by leading scholars and researchers opens those archives to draw on a wealth of previously unexamined scripts, correspondence and production material, reconstructing many of the hidden histories of the last hundred years of world cinema. Highlighting the fact that the movies we see are actually the exception to the rule, this study uncovers the myriad reasons why 'failures' occur and considers how understanding those failures can transform the disciplines of film and media history. The first survey of this new area of empirical study across transnational borders, Shadow Cinema is a vital and fascinating demonstration of the importance of the unmade, unseen, and unknown history of cinema.

Author Biography

James Fenwick is a senior lecturer in Media and Communications at Sheffield Hallam University. He is the author of Stanley Kubrick Produces (2020) and Unproduction Studies and the American Film Industry (2021).
Kieran Foster is an AHRC funded PhD student at De Montfort University, UK. His research focuses on the British Company Hammer's Films unmade projects. He has published in peer-reviewed journals, with an piece on Hammer's failed adaptation Vlad the Impaler appearing in the Journal of Adaptation in Film and Performance.