It took us 300,000 years to make it to the movies. Will it take us just a couple hundred years to lose them?
Book of the Banned author Simon Miraudo returns with his cosmic and caustic cautionary tale Last Rites for Lost Films: Charred Celluloid, Digital Decay and the Certain Death of Cinema. It charts humankind’s march towards cinema – a miracle of technology, artistry and cultural myth-making – and wonders why it keeps dying on us. And why we keep killing it.
Featuring interviews with Oscar nominees, international preservationists, cinema owners and those who have been literally erased from cinema history, Last Rites for Lost Films describes the doomed productions, deleted files and directors’ cuts you were never meant to see, and the ones you never will.
This is for anyone who’s ever lusted after the prospect of witnessing Jerry Lewis’ The Day the Clown Cried or Marvel’s first – and forsaken – Fantastic Four, as well as everything else you heard was burned, shelved or sued into oblivion. Last Rites for Lost Films has been described as “the next essential book for every film lover”, “fantastically funny”, and “a miraculous celebration of life.” It includes the behind-the-scenes story of Coyote vs. Acme‘s almost-axing, and travels from the missing first movies to cinema’s likely last gasp.
For a chance to win one of three copies of Last Rites for Lost Films: Charred Celluloid, Digital Decay and the Certain Death of Cinema, simply email competitions@filmink.com.au with the name of a film you wish had been lost, and why. Most creative entries win. Don’t forget to include your postal address with your entry.
Last Rites for Lost Films: Charred Celluloid, Digital Decay and the Certain Death of Cinema is available now from lowheroespress.com AU/NZ/US/UK/CA.
