Goldsmiths - University of London

Mr Deac Rossell

BA Philosophy, Syracuse University, 1966. Film Coordinator, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1974-1987; National Special Projects Officer, Directors Guild of America, Los Angeles, 1987-1989; Head of Programme Planning, National Film Theatre, London, 1991-1993; Lecturer, Art History Department, Tufts University (Museum School Programme), 1974-1987; Visiting Instructor, The European Film School, Ebeltoft, Denmark, 1994. Appointed Goldsmith's College 2004.

Teaching

Currently the convenor of EL52001A, European Cinemas: Trends Since 1945; EN71051A, Hitchcock's Other America.

Professional activities

Associate Editor, Early Popular Visual Culture (Routledge)

Research interests

Research interests include: 1) the relationship between newspapers and the film industry in the USA from c. 1910 to 1960, particularly in their closely interrelated institutional dealings and in the representation of journalists on film; 2) independent American feature filmmaking in the period c. 1946 - 1980, both as an alternative to studio-based production and as an example of regional themes and cultures in narrative filmmaking; and  3) the invention of moving pictures at the end of the 19th century, seen from an international perspective and with a special focus on chronophotography and its influence on cinema inventors. My most recent work has been in the history of the magic lantern from 1659 through the end of the 19th century and its use of the projected image for both education and entertainment.

Selected publications

• Laterna Magica / Magic Lantern. Eine Geschichte/A History (Forthcoming, Fuesslin Verlag, Stuttgart)
•  “The Public Exhibition of Moving Pictures before 1896", in: KINtop-Jahrbuch zur Erforschung des frühen Films, Nrs. 14/15 (2006), pp. 159 - 195.
• Contributor to: Richard Abel, ed., The Encyclopedia of Early Cinema   (London, 2005: Routledge).
• "The Magic Lantern and Moving Images before 1800", in: Barockberichte 40-41 (Salzburger Barockmuseum, 2005), pp. 686-693.
• "Vermeidbare Grenzen: Sinn und Unsinn des Technologie-Einsatzes durch Medienhistoriker”, in: Harro Segeberg (Hg.), Die Medien und ihre Technik. Theorien - Modelle - Geschichte (Marburg, 2004: Wilhelm Fink Verlag [= Schriftenreihe der Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft 11])
• Faszination der Bewegung. Ottomar Anschütz zwischen Photographie und Kino. (Frankfurt am Main/Basle, 2001: Stroemfeld / Roter Stern)
• Living Pictures. The Origins of the Cinema. (Albany, 1998: State University of New York Press.)
• The Press: Observed and Projected, (ed. with Philip French) (London, 1991: National Film Theatre)