Film Dialogue is the product of dozens of people who directly and indirectly aided its progress over an unexpectedly protracted period of six years. Conference talks by Sarah Kozloff, Tom Leitch, Jeremy Strong and Emily Bauman established the book’s scopes and aims, while conversations with Mike Chasar, Nick Hengen Fox and Deb Carmichael improved its tone and clarity. I am grateful to Vivian Sobchack and Rutgers University Press for allowing me to reprint a portion of Screening Space. My greatest debts of gratitude are to Yoram Allon, for supporting the project from the beginning, and Jodie Taylor, for shepherding me through each phase of the production process. Sarah Kozloff and Todd Berliner inspired this book, and their scholarship and mentorship continue to motivate me. Sarah assured me that obsessions with film speech were worth indulging and listening to, while Todd showed me what good film criticism is and can do. I thank the contributors for their tireless patience, and hope they agree the wait was worth it. Finally, I am humbled by the love, humour and generosity that my partner Lynn Makau has shown during the course of this project and every day I have known her. This book would be impossible without her.