Making Waves: New Cinemas of the 1960s

Making Waves examines the revolutionary changes in world cinema during the 1960s, focusing on both established film industries and emerging national movements. The book covers developments across Europe, Latin America, Japan, and the United States during this pivotal decade. Nowell-Smith analyzes key directors, films and artistic innovations that characterized this era of rapid transformation in filmmaking. The text explores the French New Wave, Italian modernism, the Czech New Wave, Brazilian Cinema Novo, and other significant movements that emerged during this period. The work places these cinematic developments within their historical and political context, examining how factors like post-war recovery, the Cold War, and social upheaval influenced film. Technical innovations, changes in production methods, and shifts in distribution models are documented throughout the decade. Through this global survey, the book reveals how the 1960s represented a crucial turning point when cinema's artistic possibilities expanded and its role in society was fundamentally redefined. The interplay between cultural revolution and cinematic innovation emerges as a central theme.

There appear to be very few public reader reviews available for this book, making it difficult to provide a meaningful summary of general reader sentiment. The book has no ratings or reviews on Goodreads and only 1 review on Amazon (4 out of 5 stars). Library catalog records show it is held mainly by academic libraries rather than public ones, suggesting its primary audience is film scholars and researchers. The single Amazon review notes that the book provides detailed information about 1960s film movements but critiques the writing as "dry and academic" and says the author "assumes too much prior knowledge" about film history.

The New Wave by James Monaco This history of French New Wave cinema examines the movement's key directors, films, and cultural impact during the 1960s through archival research and filmmaker interviews.

Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy by Colin MacCabe The book traces Jean-Luc Godard's career from his New Wave beginnings through his experimental work, drawing connections between his films and the broader cultural shifts of the 1960s.

The New European Cinema by Rosalind Galt The text analyzes European art cinema from the 1960s through the lens of national identity, politics, and modernist aesthetics.

The International Film Industry by Thomas H. Guback This study examines the economic and structural changes in global cinema during the 1960s, including the rise of independent production and new distribution models.

Revolution and Cinema by James Roy MacBean The book explores the relationship between radical politics and film movements of the 1960s across Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

🎬 The book examines how revolutionary filmmaking in the 1960s emerged simultaneously across multiple countries, including France's Nouvelle Vague, Brazil's Cinema Novo, and the Czech New Wave. 🎯 Geoffrey Nowell-Smith served as a pioneering figure in film studies, helping establish it as a serious academic discipline in British universities during the 1960s and 1970s. 📽️ Many of the groundbreaking films discussed in the book were made possible by technological advances like lightweight cameras and portable sound recording equipment, which allowed directors to shoot on location with smaller crews. 🌍 The book explores how political upheavals of the 1960s - including the Cold War, decolonization, and various protest movements - directly influenced these new cinema movements. 🎥 Several filmmakers featured in the book, including Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, began their careers as film critics for Cahiers du Cinéma before becoming directors themselves.