David Bordwell was a film scholar and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a longtime contributor to the Criterion Collection of films.
- Died: February 29, 2024 (Who else died on February 29?)
- Details of death: Died of degenerative lung disease at the age of 76.
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David Bordwell’s legacy
Bordwell devoted his entire life to studying, analyzing, and commenting on the art of cinema. Educated at the State University of New York at Albany and the University of Iowa, Bordwell joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1973 and remained there until he retired in 2004.
Over his career, Bordwell penned nearly two dozen books on the art of film, coauthoring several with his wife, film theorist Kristin Thompson. These include “Film Art: An Introduction” and “Minding Movies: Observations on the Art, Craft, and Business of Filmmaking,” both now considered essential texts in film studies.
Bordwell was also a longtime contributor to the Criterion Collection, a highly curated assembly of classic and important films. Bordwell provided dozens of essays and film commentaries for the collection. He also wrote for his acclaimed blog, “Observations on film art,” and continued contributing to film analysis well after his retirement.
He received the UW-Madison Chancellor’s Teaching Award and a Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award, as well as honorary doctorates from the University of Copenhagen and Lingnan University in Hong Kong. Bordwell was also the recipient of numerous awards, including a University of Auckland Hood Fellowship, an Anthology Film Archives Award, an Excellence in Asian Film Scholarship Award, a Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Professorship, and a Hilldale Award in the Humanities.
Notable quote
“I admire some films just because they’re very good stories, other films because of the performances. One of the great things about film is that it is many, many art forms in one.”—from a 2005 interview for Z Magazine
Tributes to David Bordwell
Full obituary: Variety
