Headpress Books Established 1991

Land of a Thousand Balconies

Film showmen, gimmicks and cult films.

£14.99

Out of stock

Land of a Thousand Balconies documents incidents, episodes, character-studies and unusual film happenings, some of which author Jack Stevenson has — over the past fifteen years — been privy to in his capacity as projectionist-for-hire. Elsewhere, Stevenson focuses on movie theatres and renegade exhibition spaces as well as lamenting on the disappearing ‘sense of place’ and atmosphere that is such an integral part of the movie-going experience. Here the reader is invited to tour a diversity of venues — from the notorious old grindhouses of San Francisco, the home-made store-front cinemas of Seattle and New York, through to the underground film clubs of Europe.

  • Subjects covered in the book include:
  • Weird Christmas movies
  • Film gimmicks and 3-D
  • Sid Pink and Reptilicus
  • A tribute to ham acting
  • Guerrilla cinema in San Francisco
  • Underground cinema clubs in Europe
  • Scopitone — the story of cocktail lounge video jukeboxes
  • The evolution of Cult and Camp

Book of the month! — Forum

Jack Stevenson

JACK STEVENSON is an American expat living in Denmark since 1993. He taught at The European Film College between 1995 and 1998 and in 2002 wrote the first biography of Lars von Trier (BFI) to appear in English. He specializes in cult, underground and exploitation cinema with several books in these fields, and has written for Film Quarterly, Film Threat and Bright Lights online. A film print collector, he founded the Station 16 film group in the heart of Copenhagen.

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