‘Feel the film’ : Film projectionists and professional memory

Authors

ČESÁLKOVÁ Lucie

Year of publication 2017
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Memory Studies
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1750698016670789
Field Mass media, audiovision
Keywords cinema; memory; projectionist
Description Deploying concepts of professional memory and communities of practice, this article draws on interviews with two generations of film projectionists in Brno in the Czech Republic to investigate the profession of film projectionist as a phenomenon at the boundaries of memory studies, sociology, social anthropology and film history. From this standpoint, a study of cinema employees’ professional memory revises and refines the concept of cinema memory as examined from the cinemagoer’s perspective. The article sets out the key tropes of projectionists’ memories and discusses them in the context of the legal background, professional status, standards of good practice and relationships within the professional community. Analysing the conditions under which the professional identity of film projectionist has been formed, it takes into account the current obsolescence of traditional screening techniques and analyses the significance of film screening quality and the related perception of the projectionist as a creator of a screening as significant motifs in projectionists’ memories.
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