Paris, 1976: the Centre Pompidou had not yet opened its doors, yet it was already asserting its ambition to include in its programming artistic practices that had until then remained invisible in museums. It is at this moment of prefiguration that the exhibition A History of Cinema is being organised. What kind of history is this? In the course of the sessions, an alternative narrative to the dominant cinematographic canons took shape, on the fringes of the industry and auteur cinema. Encouraged by its new director, Pontus HULTEN, and signed by the Austrian filmmaker Peter KUBELKA, this radical proposal places experimental and avant-garde cinema firmly in the collections of the Musée national d'art moderne.

Juxtaposing the original catalogue with a collection of previously unpublished documents and interviews, new texts and period publications, this book traces a political and cultural history punctuated by controversy, symptomatic of the tumultuous relationship between the underground and the institutional milieu. Today, at a time when the presence of the moving image in collections and exhibitions seems to be a matter of course, Une histoire du cinéma is undoubtedly the missing piece in understanding the future of cinema in museums.

Introduction by Philippe-Alain Michaud. Texts by Enrico Camporesi, Adeena Mey, Erika Balsom, Jean-Claude Lebensztejn. Interviews with Peter Kubelka, Annette Michelson. Facsimile of the catalogue UNE HISTOIRE DU CINÉMA (1976).

Enrico Camporesi is in charge of research and documentation in the film collection department of the Musée national d'art moderne - Centre Pompidou. He is the author of Futurs de l'obsolescence, un essai sur la restauration du film d'artiste (Éditions Mimésis, 2018).

Jonathan Pouthier is responsible for programming the film collection at the Musée national d'art moderne - Centre Pompidou. He has designed and organised programmes and exhibitions in France and abroad.