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La collezione Joye e il ruolo della selezione nella memoria del cinema muto

Abstract

This study explores the historiographical implications of curatorial selection through the case of the Josef Joye silent film collection. Formed in Basel between 1896 and 1911 by Jesuit Josef Joye, the collection originally served educational purposes but was later reframed as cultural heritage. Rediscovered by Stefan Bamberger in the 1940s, partially duplicated and preserved by Davide Turconi in Italy during the 1960s, and finally institutionalized at the British Film Institute in 1976, the collection exemplifies how each stage of transmission redefined its identity. Drawing on theoretical insights from Ricoeur and Assmann, the analysis shows how acts of curatorship such as selection, preservation and duplication function as interpretative gestures that actively shape historical narratives. By foregrounding the tension between remembering and forgetting, this study argues that the Joye Collection is not only a repository of early cinema but also a laboratory of canon formation, where personal, institutional, and cultural choices intersect to produce new historiographical configurations.