A conversation with Pierre Sorlin about film studies, film and history, and European cinema

Abstract

A discussion with Pierre Sorlin focusing on his career and approach. It first tackles his method, moving from history to the role audiovisual representation plays as a historical agent and source, and the merging of different disciplines in coining said approach, including social history, semiology, sociology of culture, and production studies. The conversation then moves to considering the role of national and supranational audiovisual production, notably European and Italian. Finally, it deals with the role film and media studies played in European humanities in previous decades, and considers their prospective function.