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

From The Video Essay Podcast by The Video Essay Podcast

December 31, 2025 · 1h 28m

About this episode

Jiří Anger discusses his book on film theory and videographic criticism.

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 Follow the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . Learn more at the pod's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . Get the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠free newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . Music by Ketsa.

People in this episode

Guest: Jiří Anger

Topics covered

videographic criticism
archival film
film theory
Czech cinema
hybridity
film artifacts

Keywords

film theory
archival film
videographic criticism
Czech cinema
hybridity
film artifacts
deformative criticism

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Towards a Film Theory from Below: Archival Film and the Aesthetics of the Crack-Up, The First Frames of Czech Cinema, Digital Kříženecký, The Crack-Up