Luke McKernan's historical study of Charles Urban has won the best moving image book at the 2014 Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards which were announced last night. The winner of the best photography book was Sergio Larrain: Vagabond Photographer.
The Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards are a partner of the Sony World Photography Awards and the two books share the awards’ £10,000 prize for the best photography and best moving image books of the year.
- Best Photography Book Award: Sergio Larrain: Vagabond Photographer by Agnès Sire and Gonzalo Leiva Quijada (Thames and Hudson)
- Best Moving Image Book Award: Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897 - 1925 by Luke McKernan (University of Exeter Press)
Based on original research from Charles Urban’s own papers, McKernan's book is the first biography of this influential film maker and innovator. It is also a historical study of the development of the non-fiction film in Britain and America in the early years of cinema, told through the experiences of the leading pioneer of the form.
The jury commented:
"The jury thought Luke McKernan's 'Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897-1925' was a meticulously researched study of a hitherto neglected, significant figure in the early development of British cinema. In an engaging and spirited fashion, McKernan sheds new light on an important individual while using Urban's story to illuminate wider trends and changes in the cinema of the time. He brings a personality and a period alive. The jury warmly congratulates Luke McKernan on winning this year's prize."
Charles Urban was a renowned figure in his time, and he has remained a name in film history chiefly for his development of Kinemacolor, the world’s first successful natural colour moving picture system. He was also a pioneer in the filming of war, science, travel, actuality and news, a fervent advocate of the value of film as an educative force, and a controversial but important innovator of film propaganda in wartime.
The book uses Urban’s story as a means of showing how the non-fiction film developed in the period 1897-1925, and the dilemmas that it faced within a cinema culture in which the entertainment fiction film was dominant. Urban’s solutions – some successful, some less so – illustrate the groundwork that led to the development of documentary film. The book considers the roles of film as informer, educator and generator of propaganda, and the social and aesthetic function of colour in the years when cinema was still working out what it was capable of and how best to reach audiences.
Luke McKernan is Lead Curator, News and Moving Image at the British Library and also curates a web resource on Charles Urban at: www.charlesurban.com The National Media Museum, Bradford, holds Urban's archive and a display of material from the archive is currently on display.
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