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Emanuel Levy | |
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| Born | (1949-02-04)February 4, 1949 (age 76) Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Alma mater | Columbia University[1] |
| Employer | New York University |
| Partner(s) | Rob Remley (1980–death, 2012)[2] |
| Website | emanuellevy |
Emanuel Levy[3] is a veteran, well-known Americanfilm critic and professor emeritus of sociology and film ofArizona State University. For the past 50 years, he has taught a wide variety of courses in sociology, film studies, and popular culture atColumbia University,New School for Social Research,Wellesley College,UCLA, andArizona State University.
Levy grew up in Tel Aviv, after his family emigrated to Israel from Europe. He attendedIroni He High School, one of Israel's best schools, where he got a well-rounded liberal education. After military service as a combat officer in the IDF, he attendedTel Aviv University, where he obtained a B.A. degree in Sociology, Anthropology and Political Science (magna cum laude). He pursued a M.Phil and Ph.D. (in distinction) in Sociology of Art (focusing on film and theater) fromColumbia University in 1975 and 1978, respectively.[citation needed]
Levy has taught atColumbia University,New School for Social Research,Wellesley College,Arizona State University andUCLA Film School. Levy currently[when?] teaches in the department of cinema studies atNew York University.[citation needed]
Levy is the only critic in the U.S. who's a voting member of eight groups:Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA, Golden Globes),Los Angeles Film Critics (LAFCA),Critics Choice Awards (CCA),National Society of Film Critics (NSFC),New York Film Critics Online, Gay and Lesbian Critics Association,Online Film Critics Society and the International Federation of Film CriticsFIPRESCI. He was the president of LAFCA from 1996 to 1999, during which he initiated, with the support of his v.p.Manohla Dargis (now chief film critic ofThe New York Times) the move of the annual awards event from a modest luncheon to a more lavish evening kudo.[citation needed]
His first book,The Habima—Israel's National Theater, 1917–1977, launched his writing career[citation needed] and was the winner of the 1980National Jewish Book Award.[4] His critical chronicle of theOscar Awards,And the Winner Is: History and Politics of the Academy Awards was published in 1986. He has published updated editions of that book, includingOscar Fever in 2000 andAll About Oscar in 2003.
Of his nine books, hismagnum opus is considered to beCinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film (1999), a 600-page text that was semi-finalist for the National Book Awards, and still is the most widely read film and culture book in the history of NYU Press.[citation needed] The book examines the various social, political, economic and artistic forces that have shaped the emergence of low-budget Americanindies as a distinct institutional cinema, operating parallel to and against mainstream Hollywood cinema.[citation needed]
In his 1994 comprehensive biography of George Cukor,Master of Elegance: The Director and His Stars (William Morrow), he disputed the commonly held belief (or myth) that Cukor was fired from the 1939 classicGone With the Wind, because Clark Gable did not think he was "macho" enough to direct. Instead, Levy offers as reasons the conflict between him and producer David O. Selznick over the screenplay (which was not ready when shooting began) and pacing and tempo, which Selznick thought were not right.[citation needed]. Cukor had worked on pre-production of that film, including the casting of all the roles for two years, 1937-1939.
Levy wrote the first comprehensive biography ofVincente Minnelli,Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer in 2009. In this book, he argued that Minnelli's sexual identity is a crucial variable in understanding the kinds of narratives and visual styles of his films, particularly his melodramas, such asThe Bad and the Beautiful, and the more personal and intimateTea and Sympathy.[citation needed]
In 2000, he co-organized with the Film Department of theLos Angeles County Museum of Art a tribute weekend to the influential criticAndrew Sarris, coinciding with the publication ofCitizen Sarris: American Film Critic, Essays in Honor of Andrew Sarris. On that occasion, Sarris chose to screenThe Shop Around the Corner andShoot the Piano Player, films that were followed by panels headed by noted criticsRichard Schickel and Oscar-winning directorCurtis Hanson. Levy has appeared in numerous films, documentaries, TV channels, including shows on theBRAVO network and theIndependent Film Channel, as well as radio programs onNPR.[citation needed]. He continues to appear in documentaries for independent filmmakers and television, as well as on selected DVD releases.
Levy has written for various newspapers and magazines, includingAmerican Film,The Advocate,Out,The Jerusalem Post,The New York Times Magazine andLos Angeles Times. Over the past 15 years, he has been a regular contributor to the film section ofFinancial Times. While in Arizona, he ran theASU Film Society, and then the Scottsdale Independent Film Festival. He was a senior critic atVariety for over a decade, and the chief film critic of the UK publicationScreen International for three years.Levy established a website of film reviews and essays in 2003, [Cinema 24/7], which has global appeal. As of 2025[update], the site contained over 33,000 film reviews, profiles, interviews and Oscar commentaries, written by Levy and a staff of writers.[citation needed]
