12 Facts About Thomas Elsaesser

Thomas Elsaesser was a German film historian and professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

Thomas Elsaesser was the writer and director of The Sun Island, a documentary essay film about his grandfather, the architect Martin Elsaesser.

Thomas Elsaesser subsequently edited a similar journal from 1971 to 1975 in London, encouraged by Peter Wollen and supported by a grant from the Education Department of the British Film Institute.

From 1972 to 1976, Thomas Elsaesser taught English, French and Comparative Literature at the University of East Anglia.

In 1991, Thomas Elsaesser was appointed to a chair at the University of Amsterdam.

In 2003, Thomas Elsaesser founded the international MA Programme in Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image.

From 1976, Thomas Elsaesser taught as a visiting professor at American universities including the University of Iowa, University of California, New York University and Yale University.

Thomas Elsaesser is an important representative of international film studies, whose books and essays on film theory, genre theory, Hollywood, new film history, media archaeology, new media, mind-game film, European auteur cinema, and installation art have been published in more than 20 languages.

Besides his publications on German cinema, Thomas Elsaesser has edited and co-edited collections on Early Cinema, Television, New Media, as well as co-authoring a book on Contemporary Hollywood and an innovative Introduction to Film Theory.

In 2006, Thomas Elsaesser received the Royal Order of the Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw.

In March 2017, Thomas Elsaesser was awarded a doctor honoris causa by the Universite de Liege.

On 4 December 2019, Thomas Elsaesser died unexpectedly aged 76 in Beijing, where he was scheduled to give a lecture.