The City Symphony Phenomenon

Together with Anthony Kinik, Steven Jacobs & Eva Hielscher of the university of Ghent and Antwerp edited the first general theoretical study on the city symphony. The City Symphony Phenomenon: Cinema, Art and Urban Modernity Between the Wars offers a comprehensive overview of this film form and cinematic phenomenon. Other contributors include Tom Gunning, Malcolm Turvey and Malte Hagener. The last part of the book consists of an extensive annotated filmography containing more than 80 both famous and lesser-known city symphonies made across four continents between the two world wars. A (re)discovery and a revalorization of these lesser-known films is crucial to the rationale of the book. You can find the full list of films and read the preface and introductory chapter in the ‘preview pdf’ on the website of the publisher Routledge.

To celebrate the publication of the book, Steven Jacobs and Eva Hielscher present a film program of four city symphonies in Cinema Zuid on October 17.