books @ cc.

by Susan Sontag (1967)

A collection of selected Sontag’s essays, published between 1962 and 1965, Against Interpretation cover a range of subjects that today might feel rather outdated and canonical in its fare (Camus, Sartre, Genet, Weil, Sarraute, Pavese, Artaud, Lukacs, Levi-Strauss, Ionesco, Hochhut, Brecht, Beckett, Weiss, Bresson, Antonioni, Godard, Resnais, etc). But it would also be unfair to dismiss the essays as mere historical witnesses to the evolution of an influential tastemaker.

by Mark Cousins (2004)

Taking his cue from H.R. Gombrich’s The Story of Art, Mark Cousins paints a broad sweep of film history, chronologically arranged from its conception in late 19th century, “silent” to “sound” and then “digital” in 21st century, focusing on those whose originality — “schema with variations” instead of Gombrich’s “schema with corrections” — he considered has altered the landmarks of film-making.

A Political History
by Hamid Reza Sadr (2006)

From the infamous introduction of cinema to Iran through the Iranian monarchy in the early twentieth century to the worldwide acclaimed post-revolutionary era, Sadr presents us with a highly readable history of Iranian cinema with its embedded and reflected social, political, cultural and economic contexts, lucidly written in a comprehensive book.

Aspek Sosial & Simbolik Teater Rakyat Indonesia
by James L. Peacock (1968)

Originally published in English as Rites of Modernization: Symbolic and Social Aspects of Indonesian Proletarian Drama by the University of Chicago in 1968, Ritus Modernisasi studies the (pre-’65 gestapu) historical, social and artistic importance of this “proletarian drama”, ludruk.

Playing with Fire
by Eileen Blumenthal and Julie Taymor (1999)

A lavishly-illustrated account of Julie Taymor’s career in theatre, opera and film, the book traces the development of her “cross-pollination”: from her summer travel to Sri Lanka and India in high school; apprenticeship at L’École de Mime Jacques LeCoq; at Oberlin College; in Indonesia working together with W.S. Rendra and Bengkel Theatre, to her commercial success in The Lion King and Titus. Containing general essays of her twenty productions accompanied with generous photographs (of set constructions, productions etc), sketches for characters, costumes and set designs, Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire would be a valuable visual resource for those involved in theatre and a good introduction to those unfamiliar with Taymor’s works.

The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece
by Jonathan Harr (2005)

Based on numerous interviews and written in the style of a (historical/detective?) novel, The Lost Painting chronicles the story of the quest for Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ. In 1992, Francesca Cappelletti, an art history student hired by Giampaolo Correale to investigate the authenticity of the two identical paintings of St. John, stumbled upon a clue of the painting that’d been lost for more than two centuries.