Last year I recommended five good books for somebody who wanted to get a good introduction to the field of cinema studies. Today I will recommend five new books, which are more specific, but very good. Especially Alexander Mackendrick's book should be required reading for all film students (and quite a few scholars as well).
On Film-Making by Alexander Mackendrick (both analysis, theory and practice of the art of cinema)
Engaging Characters: Fiction, Emotion and the Cinema by Murray Smith (on how we engage with characters and a theory on how fiction film works)
Film Fables by Jacques Rancière (essays on different films and filmmakers, as well as on film history)
Bazin at Work by Andre Bazin (selected essays and reviews by Bazin from the 1940s and 1950s)
Hawks on Hawks edited by Joseph McBride (interviews with Howard Hawks)
