Let Me Dream Again

<p>What do moving images mean? How and why do they work? What do we gain by having them and what would we lose by not having them? What was it that film first brought to society that was so revolutionary and what is the significance of the moving image in the multi-format hybrid world through which we communicate today? In sixty short engaging essays film archivist curator historian and writer Luke McKernan looks at 140 years of a bewitching medium focussing on the importance of stories and form in shaping the moving images on our screens. It's an entertaining compendium that ranges from <em>The Third Man</em> to <em>Breaking Bad</em> from <em>Cheers</em> to the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games and takes in memory film's literary connections (Charles Dickens James Joyce Stevie Smith) spoilers misplaced reels prequels politics fame sport AI movies playing dead libraries anarchists feral children newsreels David Attenborough the birth of <em>YouTube</em> screen shapes and sizes compilation films migration colourisation fairy tales clean shirts and stray dogs.</p><p></p><p>What a wonderful collection - surprising smart and rich. Luke McKernan is as likely to find something clever and observant to say about the pilot episode of Cheers or repeats of The Big Match as he is about Celine And Julie Go Boating or Abel Gance's Napoleon. These essays are the product of a unique and admirable mind and I loved them. - Nick Hornby author and screenwriter</p><p></p><p>McKernan presents a collection of his writing on the moving image in all its multiple forms crammed with insights into history technology and humanity. He proves an excellent guide to the many ways that the storytelling impulse survives and adapts to each new medium from magic lantern slides to AI. - Pamela Hutchinson Silent London</p><p></p><p>Luke McKernan's wonderfully eclectic entirely delightful learnedly informal gloriously quirky deeply knowledgeable and totally original essays concern films story telling archives memories football dreams Bob Dylan David Attenborough long-dead dogs and more all of which are held up to the light with absolute precision with playfulness and above all with passion. - John Wyver University of Westminster</p>