Laughing Bodies: Film Comediennes from the 1910s

May 15, 2008

Book presentation and film programme

After the comprehensive June 2007 show which the Film Museum devoted to comediennes and divas of early cinema, we are now proud to present a book which is closely tied to that programme. In her new book Laughing Bodies (Volume 8 in the series of FilmmuseumSynema Publications), Claudia Preschl – co-curator of the Retrospective and scholar of early film history – focuses on those European film comediennes of the 1910s who have been hitherto largely overlooked by film scholars, with the exception of Asta Nielsen. The book reconstructs the careers and characteristics of forgotten artists such as "Rosalie", "Léa" or Ossi Oswalda in the context of the budding entertainment industry. On the occasion of the book's presentation, a selection of memorable female physical comedy from West European cinema will be shown, with live piano accompaniment by Günter Buchwald.