Skip to main content
▶ WHOPLAYSNOW
David Bordwell

David Bordwell

David Bordwell was an American film theorist and film historian. After receiving his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1973, he wrote more than fifteen volumes on the subject of cinema including Narration in the Fiction Film (1985), Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema (1988), Making Meaning (1989), and On the History of Film Style (1997). With his wife Kristin Thompson, Bordwell wrote the textbooks Film Art (1979) and Film History (1994). Film Art, in its 12th edition as of 2019, is still used as a text in introductory film courses. His largest work was The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960 (1985), written in collaboration with Thompson and Janet Staiger.

Known for

The Gift to Be Simple: Satire and Sympathy in 'The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice'
The Gift to Be Simple: Satire and Sympathy in 'The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice'
2019 • Self
Powerful Patterns: David Bordwell on Notorious
Powerful Patterns: David Bordwell on Notorious
2019 • Self
Ozuland: David Bordwell on Good Morning
Ozuland: David Bordwell on Good Morning
2017 • Self
Lighting Up with Hildy Johnson
Lighting Up with Hildy Johnson
2017 • Self
Cinema Futures
Cinema Futures
2016 • Self

Full filmography

David Bordwell – Biography, Known For & Filmography