Deac Rossell, 1944-

Biography

A student of David Shepard and James Card in the 1960s, Deac Rossell is an active independent historian of early cinema, magic lantern culture and chronophotography. Now retired from Goldsmith’s College, University of London, he has published five books – most recently Chronology of the Birth of Cinema 1833–1896 (2022) – and contributes frequently to encyclopedias, anthologies, exhibition catalogues and academic journals. He was the Curator of the Ottomar Anschütz exhibition seen at the Düsseldorf Filmmuseum and the Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt, in 2000 and 2001. His most recent book, Finding Birt Acres. The Rediscovery of a Film Pioneer, written with Barry Anthony and Peter Domankiewicz, will be published in 2025.