Books in the World Cinema series

Over the years, a realist tendency has made its mark on the world cinema map. What are its main aesthetic and political characteristics? How does it relate to the realist canon and world cinema history? What are the different facets of this phenomenon as expressed in diverse cinemas across the globe? This title deals with these questions.

This book shines much-needed light on the history, structures and films of the Amharic film industry in Ethiopia. Focusing on the rise of the industry from 2002, until today, and embedded in archival, ethnographic and textual research methods, this book offers a sustained and detailed appreciation of Amharic-language cinema. Michael Thomas considers 'fiker'/love as an organising principle in national Ethiopian culture and, by extension, Amharic cinema. Placing 'fiker' as central to understanding Amharic film genres also illuminates the continuous negotiations at play between romantic, familial, patriotic and spiritual notions of love in these films. Thomas considers the production and exhibition of films in Ethiopia, charting fluctuations and continuities between the past and the present. Having done so, he offers detailed textual readings of films, identifying important junctures in the industry's development and the emergence of new genres. The findings of the book detail the affective characteristics that delineate most Amharic genres and the role culturally specific concepts, such as fiker, play in maintaining the relevance of commercial cinemas reliant on domestic audiences.

Explores developments in the global popularity of East Asian cinema, from Chinese martial arts, through Japanese horror, to the burgeoning Korean cinema, with particular emphasis on crossovers, remakes, hybrids and co-productions. This book examines changing cinematic traditions in Asia alongside the 'Asianisation' of western cinema.

This innovative study finds that, through his unique representation of violence, Argentine director Pablo Trapero has established himself as one of the 21st century's distinctly political filmmakers. By examining the broad concept of violence and how it is represented on-screen, Douglas Mulliken identifies and analyzes the ways in which Trapero utilizes violence, particularly Zizek's concept of objective violence, as a means through which to mediate the politicalThrough a focus on several previously under-studied elements of Trapero's films, Mulliken highlights the ways in which the director's work represents present-day concerns about social inequalities and injustice in neoliberal Argentina on-screen. Finally, he examines how Trapero combines aspects of Argentina's long tradition of political film with elements of Nuevo Cine Argentino to create a unique political voice.

Spanish cinema is at the cutting edge of fantastic film production: this book examines the directors, visual styles and cultural contexts that make up this popular genre and festival favourite.

The history of Greek cinema post-1945 is best understood through the stories of its most internationally celebrated and influential directors.

One of the fastest growing and most internationally renowned cinemas in Southeast Asia is that of Thailand. In the first ever book devoted solely to this major centre of creative filmmaking, experts on contemporary and historic Thai film provide a timely overview and discussion of key films, directors and current movements in the region in a comprehensive encyclopaedia format. What many critics, analysts and scholars have retrospectively christened `New Thai Cinema' began to take shape in the late 1990s when national film moved away from its position as lower-class and provincial entertainment and became a firm fixture in Bangkok multiplexes and festivals worldwide. This book will provide information on the influential figures behind the films - up to and succeeding the 1997 watershed film Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters that began the breakaway movement - as well as detailing and explaining the traditions of popular and art-house genres specific to Thailand. Featuring contributions on Thai visionaries such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Wisit Sasanatieng and providing rare insight into early Thai cinema, this is an essential scholarly guide to a vibrant aspect of Southeast Asian cinema - its history, industry and aesthetic trends - for scholars and students alike.

A comprehensive collection of essays from the leading scholars of Cuban cinema, exploring the emerging contemporary film scene in a rapidly-changing nation.

A timely analysis of the rise of female-led transnational film in Latin America that takes account of the production histories, aesthetics and socio-political contexts of key industry figures.

Deflecting the attention from Hollywood, Stars in World Cinema fills an important gap in the study of film by bringing together Star Studies and World Cinema. A team of international scholars here bring their expertise and in-depth knowledge of world cultures and cinema to the study of stars and stardom from six continents, exploring their cultures, their local history and their global relevance. Chapters look at the role of acting, music, singing, painting and martial arts in the making of stars from Australia's indigenous population, Austria, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, Japan, North and South Korea, Nigeria, the Philippines, the former Soviet Union, Spain, North and South America. Since the very beginnings of cinema, actors and stars have been central to its history and have been one of the medium's defining characteristics. They have also been fundamental to the marketing of cinema and have played a major part in the reception of films in many cultures. Stars in World Cinema examines stardom and the circulation of stars across borders, analysing how local star systems or non-systems construct stardom around the world. Contributors put into practice their local knowledge of history, language and cultural systems, to consider issues of hybridity, boundary crossing, the mobility of stardom, and embodied spectatorship, in order to further the understanding of stars in light the of recent interest in reception theory.Rooted in a multidisciplinary and polycentric approach, this book throws light on unexpected connections between stars and stardoms from different parts of the world, cutting across chronology, geographies and film history.

Animation in the Middle East uncovers the history and politics that have defined the practice and study of animation in the Middle East, and explores the innovative visions of contemporary animators in the region.

Andre Bazin's famous article, 'Pour un cinema impur: defense de l'adaptation', was first translated into English simply as 'In Defence of Mixed Cinema', probably to avoid any uncomfortable sexual or racial resonances the word 'impure' might have.

Gustavo Subero offers an assessment of the influence, importance and impact of a body of films from the mid 1970s to date that, he argues, constitute a Latin American Queer Cinema. Gustavo Subero addresses major issues surrounding homosexuality in different Latin American societies, starting with the notions of gender and sexuality that are paramount in the construction of queer subjects in these regions. He explores questions of male effeminacy and how the maricon has become synonymous with homosexuality in the popular imaginary, suggesting how this stereotype might be reclaimed as authentic. He also analyses issues of masculine homosexuality in a series of films in which the main protagonists do not correspond to the previous stereotype, such as La leon and the work of Julian Hernandez, considering as he does so the closet and passing as hetero, as well as notions of hetero-patriarchy and masculinity.He also illuminates the way in which the male body structures, organises and redirects notions of queer masculinity in Latin America while it also demonstrates the importance of filmmaking in societies in which homosexuality may be repressed to guarantee the circulation of queer narratives (and experiences) among gay subjects.

The figure of the auteur continues to haunt the study of film, resisting both the poststructuralist charges that pointed to its absence and the histories of production demonstrating its pitfalls.

Offers a range of approaches and case studies whose organizing principle is the developing idea of polycentrism as applied to cinema. In this title, the authors refine and redefine key concepts in film studies, including identification and identity, narrative and realism, allegory and the national project, auteurism and the popular, art and genre.

The first book to examine contemporary Portuguese cinema in a global context: its national identity, style, history and industrial constraints.

*First book on Asian Film Noir *Fresh approach to crime films & thrillers

This book is the definitive study of Basque cinema, revealing how film has always been a vital medium for articulating the Basque region's unique identity and politics.

The political violence that erupted near the end of the 20th century between the Peruvian state and militant group Shining Path left an indelible mark of trauma on the country that resonates even today.