It would not be an exaggeration to say that Panagiotis Timogiannakis’s book on the Oscars has been one of the most eagerly awaited works in film studies for decades.

In a field inundated with philosophical and political approaches to the medium of film, Panagiotis Timogiannakis, with his Αristotelian perspective, offers a contribution that may well be significant for the global literature on the subject.

This is because, as the only Greek to have attended the Academy Awards ceremony for 21 consecutive years, he shares, across the 446 pages of this volume, the experiences and “secrets” he gathered during the ceremonies as well as the studies he pursued at various times in America.

Of course, this is not a scandalous look at the world of the Oscars and major filmmakers. Panagiotis Timogiannakis is actually interested in offering a lesson on the analysis of the concept of the Academy, and, by extension, of cinema as a collective art, always taking Aristotle’s Poetics as his starting point and drawing on a lifelong love for the concept of the film script—and much more.

Most importantly, the Academy is analyzed through examples of films beloved by the public, from “Anora” to “Never on Sunday,” and its greatest asset is the fluid, journalistic style of the prominent film critic, which gives both movie buffs and book lovers the impression that they are sitting in a very interesting, lively university lecture hall.

“No matter how much those who love to mock may laugh, behind this institution lie Aristotle and the concept of the Academy, the focus on the work itself, and the truth of the work. They are all interconnected—how every other discipline, as well as his own, views each individual achievement of a work. People differ from one another, but their foundation is their art […]” (p. 437)

*Panagiotis Timogiannakis’s book The Oscars is published by PEDIO Publishing, edited by Antonis Toumanidis.