Cinema in Flux

Lenny Lipton founded StereoGraphics Corporation in 1980 and was the Chief Technology Officer of RealD during the introduction of digital stereoscopic theatrical exhibition. He led the team that invented the ZScreen, used in more than 30,000 RealD 3-D theaters, and was the first to demonstrate the flickerless projection technique used on 80,000 3-D cinema screens. He has written four books, including Independent Filmmaking (1972) and Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema (1982). He is a Fellow of both the SMPTE and the SPIE, and a member of the Scientific Council of the Conservatoire des techniques of the Cinémathèque Française. He’s been granted 72 patents in the field of electronic stereoscopic displays and received a Smithsonian award for his invention of CrystalEyes, the original electronic stereoscopic eyewear product, and he received the Lumiere Lifetime Achievement Award from the Advanced Cinema Society. While majoring in physics at Cornell he wrote the lyrics of the song Puff the Magic Dragon. He produced and directed 25 independent films in the collection of the Pacific Film Archive. He lives in Laurel Canyon, California, with his family.

“The book features a beautiful iconographic apparatus that, together with its author’s wide-ranging knowledge of technology and material- oriented approach to the evolution of the medium, make it particularly well suited as a companion to more traditional cinema histories for teachers of film courses and scholars of film technology in general.” (Sabrina Negri, Technology and Culture, Vol. 63 (4), October, 2022)“If you’re studying computer science with a view to working in animation or movie production, you absolutely should read it. And if you’re not, you will find that the pictures and descriptions of the devices that led to what we see in our cinemas today are absolutely fascinating.” (G. K. Jenkins, Computing Reviews, July 4, 2022)“His point of view is both authoritative and fascinating … . Lenny Lipton's The Cinema in Flux is richly illustrated, and also contains a bibliography, a list of patents, and an index. It is a most pleasurable read, as the author moves joyfully, eruditely, and eloquently between eras, personalities, and systems. An instant classic, no less.” (Laurent Mannoni, Journal of Film Preservation, Issue 105, November, 2021)