Author Spotlight

Annette Insdorf

Columbia University film professor Annette Insdorf is the author of books including François Truffaut, Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust, and Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes.

2 Results
The 400 Blows: Close to Home

In telling the story of the young outcast Antoine Doinel, François Truffaut was moving both backward and forward in time—recalling his own experience while forging a filmic language that would grow more sophisticated throughout the 1960s.

By Annette Insdorf

The Night Porter
The Night Porter is a provocative and problematic film. Made in 1974 by Italian director Liliana Cavani, it can be seen as an exercise in perversion and exploitation of the Holocaust for the sake of sensationalism. On the other hand, a closer reading…

By Annette Insdorf