World Cinema: A Critical Introduction

Description

World Cinema: A Critical Introduction is a comprehensive yet accessible guide to film industries across the globe. From the 1980s onwards, new technologies and increased globalization have radically altered the landscape in which films are distributed and exhibited. Films are made from the large-scale industries of India, Hollywood, and Asia, to the small productions in Bhutan and Morocco. They are seen in multiplexes, palatial art cinemas in Cannes, traveling theatres in rural India, and on millions of hand-held mobile screens. Authors Deshpande and Mazaj have developed a method of charting this new world cinema that makes room for divergent perspectives, traditions, and positions, while also revealing their interconnectedness and relationships of meaning. In doing so, they bring together a broad range of issues and examples―theoretical concepts, viewing and production practices, film festivals, large industries such as Nollywood and Bollywood, and smaller and emerging film cultures―into a systemic yet flexible map of world cinema. The multi-layered approach of this book aims to do justice to the depth, dynamism, and complexity of the phenomenon of world cinema. For students looking to films outside of their immediate context, this book offers a blueprint that will enable them to transform a casual encounter with a film into a systematic inquiry into world cinema. World Cinema- Front Cover World Cinema Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents List of illustrations Figures Tables Disclaimer Acknowledgements Introduction The contemporary moment Polycentric world cinema Polymorphic world cinema Polyvalent world cinema Teaching world cinema Chapter 1: What is world cinema? The antecedents: world literature and world music International, foreign, global, or world cinema Hollywood is not world cinema Polycentric, polymorphic, and polyvalent world cinema What world cinema is: from watching films to mapping cinema Chapter 2: Watching world cinema Watching films in theaters The rise of the multiplex Art house cinemas Film societies, cine clubs, touring theaters Mobile media: VHS, VCD, DVD Home viewing, streaming, video on demand, and mobile screens Digital projection in theaters Chapter 3: Film production and finance Hollywood’s interventions European production models Asian production models Indian production models Nigerian cinema/Nollywood Other models of production Chapter 4: Film festivals and world cinema Film festivals and national cinema Film festivals and art cinema Film festivals and world cinema Digital delivery and the creation of global film culture The importance of smaller and regional film festivals: the Sarajevo Film Festival Chapter 5: Indian cinema and Bollywood Bollywood: what is in a name? Indian cinema’s spheres of influence Indian cinema after Bollywoodization Indian theoretical perspectives Chapter 6: African cinema and Nollywood Nollywood: what is in a name? Understanding Nollywood The New Nollywood Nollywood’s sphere of influence Nollywood and world cinema African theoretical perspectives Chapter 7: Asian cinema Asia, regionalization, and Asian cinema Inter-Asian cultural sphere Categories of inter-Asian cinemas The localism of inter-Asian cinema Trans-Asian cinema Asian theoretical perspectives Chapter 8: National formations National cinema Small and peripheral cinemas Chapter 9: Transnational formations Transnational cinema Diasporic and postcolonial cinema Transnational women’s cinema Chapter 10: Polyvalent world cinema Cognitive mapping Worldliness Worlding/world-making Index