studied Philosophy, Film Studies, and American Studies in Zurich. From 1993 to 2000 he worked as a media journalist and film critic for professional journals and larger Swiss newspapers. From 2004 to 2011 he was C4-Professor for Theory and History of Visual Documentary Forms at the Ruhr-University Bochum. Since 2011 he holds the Chair for Film Studies at the Goethe-University Frankfurt. His research focus lies in the areas of film philosophy and the history of film and media theory as well as the investigation of non-canonical film formats, from science films to industry films and instructional films. He is currently working on a 15-volume edition on the history of film theory, which is being published by Amsterdam University Press under the title Film Theory in Media History.