Jiří Anger on "Towards a Film Theory from Below: Archival Film and the Aesthetics of the Crack-Up"

Dec 31, 2025

1h 27m

Episode Description

On today's show, Jiří Anger joins to discuss his book, Towards a Film Theory from Below: Archival Film and the Aesthetics of the Crack-Up. We also discuss Jiří's approach to videographic criticism and "The First Frames of Czech Cinema," a video essay created with Adéla Kudlová.

[02:15] - Videographic origin story

[10:30] - Intro to the book

[24:30] - Hybridity & the moving image

[29:00] - Film artifacts and a "theory from below"

[34:30] - Jan Kříženecký & "Digital Kříženecký"

[42:00] - Beyond decay

[49:00] - Is there a "best quality" version of a film?

[55:30] - "The First Frames of Czech Cinema"

[1:01:30] - "The Crack-Up"

[1:19:00] - On Deformative Criticism