Revolution in 35mm pre-order 'Kickstarter' is live
Rewards and merch when you pre-order directly from the publisher
Greetings all and apologies for the radio silence over the last couple of months. I have been travelling in Europe, something that you will hear more about in my next missive.
Right now, I just wanted to very quickly pull on your coat about a short ‘Kickstarter’ campaign that one of publishers PM Press is running for the book I have done with critic Samm Deighan, Revolution in 35mm: Political Violence and Resistance in Cinema from the Arthouse to the Grindhouse, 1960-1990.
Kickstarter is somewhat of misnomer in this particular case, but whatever. The book is already on its way to the printers and what this campaign really is about is a chance to pre-order the book, including with various options for receiving some great merch and rewards. I was hoping that we could make a poster of the terrific cover by John Yates one of the giveaways. But PM Press couldn’t make that work logistically. There is, however, a fridge magnet and a so-called ‘Andrew Nette’ pack. My parents would be so proud.
You can check out the Kickstarter page here.
I also might add its includes the table of contents and a number of scans of pages from the book, so you can have an advance squiz at it before you actually pre-order, if you are so included to do so.
As I have said in previous newsletters, I’m really proud of this book. In addition to writing by Samm and myself, it includes terrific essays from another twelve writers and critics, an incredibly broad and diverse body of cinema, spanning from the Algerian war of independence and the early wave of post-colonial struggles that reshaped the Global South, through to the collapse of Soviet Communism in the late ‘80s.
The book focuses on films related to the rise of protest movements by students, workers, and leftist groups, as well as broader countercultural movements, Black Power, the rise of feminism, and so on. The book also includes films that explore the splinter groups that engaged in violent, urban guerrilla struggles throughout the 1970s and 1980s, as the promise of widespread radical social transformation failed to materialize: the Weathermen, the Black Liberation Army and the Symbionese Liberation Army in the United States, the Red Army Faction in West Germany and Japan, and Italy’s Red Brigades.
Many of these movements were deeply connected with and expressed their values through art, literature, popular culture, and, of course, cinema. The contributors include academics and well know film critics, and they all deliver a diverse examination of how filmmakers around the world reacted to the political violence and resistance movements of the period and how this was expressed on screen. This includes looking at the financing, distribution, and screening of these films, audience and critical reaction, the attempted censorship or suppression of much of this work, and how directors and producers eluded these restrictions.
And it is also beautifully illustrated in full colour.
Anyway, the Kickstarter ends July 5. And if you do feel like spreading the love, any assistance in publicising it on your socials would be appreciated.
The official publication date in the US is August 8.
This will not be the last you hear about it.
Lunch is for wimps?
I wanted to give you all advance notice that some point in the very near future, I’ll be turning on the option to pay for my Substack. Possible as early as the next newsletter. That said, I want to make it absolutely crystal clear that the option to get Pulp Curry for free will ALWAYS continue.
I have made this decision only because several people have offered to pay, which I very deeply appreciate. But - and I mean this very seriously - it is not the point of what I am doing here. I started this newsletter because I want to write about stuff I am interested in and I want you to read it and engage with me. I also want to sell my books and those of people I support. If I can make a few bucks on the side through paying readers, that’s a bonus, but it is not the main game.
Substack may hassle you to pay, but I never will. What’s more, full disclosure, I doubt that the content between the paying and non paying options will differ very much, if at all.
Until next time.