The Afterimage Reader

The independent British film journal Afterimage published thirteen issues between 1970 and 1987. International in scope, it surveyed the many forms of radical cinema during an extraordinary period of film history. Having emerged in the wake of post-1968 cultural and political change, Afterimage charted contemporary developments with special issues on themes such as the avant-garde, Latin American cinema and visionary animation, and also looked back at early film pioneers. It published many of the leading critics of the period and vitally provided a forum for filmmakers’ writings and manifestos.

This indispensable collection includes texts by scholars Noël Burch, Roger Cardinal, B. Ruby Rich and Peter Wollen, filmmakers Jean Epstein, Jean-Luc Godard, Derek Jarman and Jan Švankmajer, plus extended interviews with Hollis Frampton and Raúl Ruiz, and more.

The Afterimage Reader is edited by Mark Webber and features new contributions from two of the journal’s editors, Simon Field and Ian Christie.

“On the cover of the first issue, Afterimage already displayed its own genius: a film still from the Ciné-tracts series, conceived in Paris 1968, was reproduced with the silver grain detail typical of structural films. Nothing that was politically and aesthetically revolutionary in the sphere of moving images was foreign to Afterimage – one of those precious magazines through which the great wind of history blows, one of those rare magazines that made history.” (Nicole Brenez)

“Afterimage stood for an editorial position that was not intended simply to inform but to break down barriers, create juxtapositions and initiate dialogues that would resonate across its readership. The Afterimage Reader returns these ideas and associated memories to today’s film community: the individual essays still speak with their original urgency, and the whole project re-animates an era in which a film-based avant-garde flourished in the UK.” (Laura Mulvey)