Charles Musser
Encyclopedia
Charles Musser is Professor of Film
and American Studies
at Yale University
. He is a prominent film historian and documentary film
maker who has "added a great deal to our knowledge of early cinema with his writings and his filmmaking."
He won several awards for his book The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907, including the Theatre Library Association Award. His research has focused on such topics as Edwin S. Porter
, Oscar Micheaux
, and the Edison Studios
, and his films include An American Potter and Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter.
Film studies
Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to films. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies...
and American Studies
American studies
American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the United States. It traditionally incorporates the study of history, literature, and critical theory, but also includes fields as diverse as law, art, the media, film, religious studies, urban...
at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. He is a prominent film historian and documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
maker who has "added a great deal to our knowledge of early cinema with his writings and his filmmaking."
He won several awards for his book The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907, including the Theatre Library Association Award. His research has focused on such topics as Edwin S. Porter
Edwin S. Porter
Edwin Stanton Porter was an American early film pioneer, most famous as a director with Thomas Edison's company...
, Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Devereaux Micheaux was an American author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films...
, and the Edison Studios
Edison Studios
Edison Studios was an American motion picture production company owned by the Edison Company of inventor Thomas Edison. The studio made close to 1,200 films as the Edison Manufacturing Company and Thomas A. Edison, Inc. until the studio's closing in 1918...
, and his films include An American Potter and Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter.