Professor Kinema On Horror Cinema
Film historian and ardent horror fan, Jim Knusch (Professor Kinema) steps into the closet to discuss his passion for the Cinema of the Fantastic. Be amazed. Be very amazed.
Tell us how your mysterious alter-ego, Professor Kinema, was born.
In the beginning (of the origins of the Movies, that is) the earliest functioning motion picture camera/projectors were named with words that began with the letter K. The K was for 'Kinesis' which translated to 'movement.' Kinematography was the creation of the synthesis of photographic movement with devices like the Kinetograph, Kinescope and Kino-Phonograph.
When the focus of the continuing development of Movies shifted to France at the end of the 19th Century, innovators Louis and August Lumiere reworked Edison's design for the Kinematograph and re-christened it the Cinematograph. This was simply because the French language doesn't contain many words that begin with the letter K – thus the Cinema was born. However, the Germanic countries continued to develop motion picture devices and named them Kine/Kinema-machines. To this day, theaters in Germanic countries (as well as a few left over theaters in the USA) are named 'Kinemas.' So, being an active Cinema Historian and Folklorist I decided to return to the roots and find a use for the word 'Kinema.' My last name begins with the letter K (although a silent one) and is of Germanic roots.
I occasionally teach on a college level and have functioned within the status of Professor. Combining these elements;I concluded that the nom de plume of Professor Kinema could be appropriate. The steady usage of the name truly began in the late 1980s when I launched my public access TV show, titled, appropriately; PROFESSOR KINEMA.
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