Published for the first time in 1990 – its original title is L’Entre-images: Photo, Cinéma, Vidéo – this volume brings together 20 illustrated essays written between 1981 and 1989 by Raymond Bellour, one of the world’s most prominent film theorists.

As he writes in his foreword to this English edition, Between-the-Images is now a kind of archeological corpus. It recalls how the landscape of the moving image was constituted and historicises the first creative passages between film, video, and photography.

Considering the works and the strategies of artists and filmmakers such as Jean Eustache, Jean-Luc Godard, Thierry Kuntzel, Chris Marker, and Bill Viola, Bellour examines the slow but inexorable rise of moving images, putting his emphasis on a dual relationship: how film looks at painting, and how language inspires images.

At once poetical and concisely argued, accompanied by numerous film stills, Bellour’s essays are an invaluable and still relevant analyses that contribute to an understanding of the issues of today’s creation.

Published as part of the Documents series, co-published with Les presses du réel, and dedicated to critical writings.