Spirit of the Film Collages © Zsuzsanna Ardó

In June 2010, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) joined forces with the Everyman Cinema, the University of Warwick Institute of Advanced Study, and the film journal Screen in a collaborative venture inspired by the writings of the early film theorist Béla Balázs. Prompted by Screen’s early showcasing of Erica Carter and Rodney Livingstone's translated edition of two Balázs volumes, Visible Man (1924) and The Spirit of Film (1930), the photographer and curator Zsuzsanna Ardó approached the project partners to mount an exhibition at BAFTA and the Everyman Cinema.

Funding was secured in early 2010 from the University of Warwick and Screen, and the exhibition, The Spirit of Film: the Road to Casablanca via Béla Balázs, was planned in collaboration with the Balázs editor Erica Carter, as well as BAFTA designer Adam Tuck and print editor Christine Robertson. The British Film Institute came on board at an early stage to provide stills from films discussed by Balázs in his early writings. Read more about the project.