Abstract

Projectionists are left aside when the cinema apparatus is discussed. The following text is a rare attempt to put a spotlight on them, and the place they occupy: the projection booths. I will talk about the double split the projectionist went through during the history of cinema – split from the filmmaker and split from the spectator, I will discuss their relationship with the projector, the machine they necessarily need for their work, and will explore the miracles they may achieve by manipulation with it and the film reels. When switching the reels, splicing the frame into the film, or cutting the frame out of it, do the projectionists become a filmmaker? While we may talk about the relationship between a/ a filmmaker and camera and b/ spectator and camera, which is the relationship between spectator and projector? Last but not least I will contemplate how the projectionists are portrayed in the film.