Foreword / Steve McQueen
The attraction of film
The music of light
'To discover and to reveal': artists' documentary
The pleasures of editing
The conceptual film and other phenomena
The anti-film and the formal film
The everyday
The individual voice
Sustenance

This detailed survey presents for the first time an alternative history of the moving image, chronicling artists' ever-evolving fascination with filmmaking from the early twentieth century to now. From early pioneers to key artists of the present, leading authority and film expert David Curtis offers a vivid account of the numerous individuals who have been inspired by the cinematic medium and felt compelled to interpret and respond to it in their own way. In doing so, he discusses artists' widely differing achievements, aspirations, theories and approaches. Featuring over 400 international moving-image makers and drawing on examples from across the arts, including experimental film, video, installation and multimedia, this generously illustrated account offers an incomparable introduction to this increasingly popular and continually evolving art-form.