Yannis Tzioumakis
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748618668
- eISBN:
- 9780748670802
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748618668.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This introduction to American independent cinema offers both a comprehensive industrial and economic history of the sector from the early twentieth century to the present and a study of key ...
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This introduction to American independent cinema offers both a comprehensive industrial and economic history of the sector from the early twentieth century to the present and a study of key individual films and film-makers. Readers will develop an understanding of the complex dynamic relations between independent and mainstream American cinema.The main argument revolves around the idea that American independent cinema has developed alongside mainstream Hollywood cinema with institutional, industrial and economic changes in the latter shaping and informing the former. Consequently, the term ‘independent’ has acquired different meanings at different points in the history of American cinema, evolving according to the impact of changing conditions in the American film industry. These various meanings are examined in the course of the book.The book is ordered chronologically, beginning with independent filmmaking in the studio era (examining both top-rank and low-end independent film production), moving to the 1950s and 1960s (discussing both the adoption of independent filmmaking as the main method of production for the Hollywood majors as well as exploitation filmmaking) and finishing with contemporary American independent cinema (exploring areas such as the New Hollywood, the major independent production and distribution companies and the institutionalisation of independent cinema in the 1990s). Each chapter includes a number of case studies which focus on specific films and/or filmmakers, while a number of independent production and distribution companies are also discussed in detail.Less
This introduction to American independent cinema offers both a comprehensive industrial and economic history of the sector from the early twentieth century to the present and a study of key individual films and film-makers. Readers will develop an understanding of the complex dynamic relations between independent and mainstream American cinema.The main argument revolves around the idea that American independent cinema has developed alongside mainstream Hollywood cinema with institutional, industrial and economic changes in the latter shaping and informing the former. Consequently, the term ‘independent’ has acquired different meanings at different points in the history of American cinema, evolving according to the impact of changing conditions in the American film industry. These various meanings are examined in the course of the book.The book is ordered chronologically, beginning with independent filmmaking in the studio era (examining both top-rank and low-end independent film production), moving to the 1950s and 1960s (discussing both the adoption of independent filmmaking as the main method of production for the Hollywood majors as well as exploitation filmmaking) and finishing with contemporary American independent cinema (exploring areas such as the New Hollywood, the major independent production and distribution companies and the institutionalisation of independent cinema in the 1990s). Each chapter includes a number of case studies which focus on specific films and/or filmmakers, while a number of independent production and distribution companies are also discussed in detail.
Viola Shafik
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774160653
- eISBN:
- 9781936190096
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774160653.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
The political and economic stagnation common to the largely autocratic Arab regimes has been affecting culture and film continuously. In addition, the introduction of new technologies and the ...
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The political and economic stagnation common to the largely autocratic Arab regimes has been affecting culture and film continuously. In addition, the introduction of new technologies and the profound change of the regional mediascape have left their mark on local production, especially by pushing young talents with innovative ideas and styles to the fore. There was also the sudden death of Algerian film critic Mouny Berrah, along with other tragic and absurd losses for Arab cinema, namely talented Lebanese director Maroun Baghdadi, who fell into an empty elevator shaft upon return to his homeland, and United States-based Syrian Mustafa al-Akkad, who became the accidental victim of an extremist suicide bombing in Amman. Some Arab filmmakers and authors are meanwhile voicing reservations concerning still-prevalent cinematic, modernist, and individualist elitism. The persistent schism between Arab auteurs and popular mainstream cinema cannot be neglected.Less
The political and economic stagnation common to the largely autocratic Arab regimes has been affecting culture and film continuously. In addition, the introduction of new technologies and the profound change of the regional mediascape have left their mark on local production, especially by pushing young talents with innovative ideas and styles to the fore. There was also the sudden death of Algerian film critic Mouny Berrah, along with other tragic and absurd losses for Arab cinema, namely talented Lebanese director Maroun Baghdadi, who fell into an empty elevator shaft upon return to his homeland, and United States-based Syrian Mustafa al-Akkad, who became the accidental victim of an extremist suicide bombing in Amman. Some Arab filmmakers and authors are meanwhile voicing reservations concerning still-prevalent cinematic, modernist, and individualist elitism. The persistent schism between Arab auteurs and popular mainstream cinema cannot be neglected.
Cécile Chich
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039683
- eISBN:
- 9780252097775
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039683.003.0009
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines the centrality of the work of artistic duo Maria Klonaris and Katerina Thomadaki to the project of writing a feminist women's film history by focusing on the aesthetic and ...
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This chapter examines the centrality of the work of artistic duo Maria Klonaris and Katerina Thomadaki to the project of writing a feminist women's film history by focusing on the aesthetic and conceptual choices they made and on their thought-provoking contributions to feminist film practice. In particular, it considers Klonaris and Thomadaki's Cinéma corporel (Cinema of the Body). The chapter suggests that the female avant-garde film has, paradoxically, been marginalized by feminist film theory's focus on mainstream cinema as a site of patriarchal representation and spectatorship. It shows that Klonaris and Thomadaki's Cinéma corporel represents, for women's cinema, a strategy of dissidence. In form, content, concept, and approach, it calls for a revisitation of “film” outside the canon established in traditional film history. The chapter underscores the need to “heighten the visibility of women's contributions to traditions of formal innovation and explore how formal innovation enables women to enlarge discourses about women's subjectivity” and art.Less
This chapter examines the centrality of the work of artistic duo Maria Klonaris and Katerina Thomadaki to the project of writing a feminist women's film history by focusing on the aesthetic and conceptual choices they made and on their thought-provoking contributions to feminist film practice. In particular, it considers Klonaris and Thomadaki's Cinéma corporel (Cinema of the Body). The chapter suggests that the female avant-garde film has, paradoxically, been marginalized by feminist film theory's focus on mainstream cinema as a site of patriarchal representation and spectatorship. It shows that Klonaris and Thomadaki's Cinéma corporel represents, for women's cinema, a strategy of dissidence. In form, content, concept, and approach, it calls for a revisitation of “film” outside the canon established in traditional film history. The chapter underscores the need to “heighten the visibility of women's contributions to traditions of formal innovation and explore how formal innovation enables women to enlarge discourses about women's subjectivity” and art.
Whitney Crothers Dilley
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231167734
- eISBN:
- 9780231538497
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231167734.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Ang Lee is one of cinema's most versatile and daring directors. His ability to cut across cultural, national, and sexual boundaries has given him recognition in all corners of the world, the ability ...
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Ang Lee is one of cinema's most versatile and daring directors. His ability to cut across cultural, national, and sexual boundaries has given him recognition in all corners of the world, the ability to work with complete artistic freedom whether inside or outside of Hollywood, and two Academy Awards for Best Director. He has won astounding critical acclaim for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), which transformed the status of martial arts films across the globe, Brokeback Mountain (2005), which challenged the reception and presentation of homosexuality in mainstream cinema, and Life of Pi (2012), Lee's first use of groundbreaking 3D technology and his first foray into complex spiritual themes. This book analyzes all of his career to date: Lee's early Chinese trilogy films (including The Wedding Banquet, 1993, and Eat Drink Man Woman, 1994), period drama (Sense and Sensibility, 1995), martial arts (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000), blockbusters (Hulk, 2003), and intimate portraits of wartime psychology, from the Confederate side of the Civil War (Ride with the Devil, 1999) to Japanese-occupied Shanghai (Lust/Caution, 2007). It examines Lee's favored themes such as father–son relationships and intergenerational conflict in The Ice Storm (1997) and Taking Woodstock (2007). By looking at the beginnings of Lee's career, the book positions the filmmaker's work within the roots of the Taiwan New Cinema movement, as well as the larger context of world cinema.Less
Ang Lee is one of cinema's most versatile and daring directors. His ability to cut across cultural, national, and sexual boundaries has given him recognition in all corners of the world, the ability to work with complete artistic freedom whether inside or outside of Hollywood, and two Academy Awards for Best Director. He has won astounding critical acclaim for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), which transformed the status of martial arts films across the globe, Brokeback Mountain (2005), which challenged the reception and presentation of homosexuality in mainstream cinema, and Life of Pi (2012), Lee's first use of groundbreaking 3D technology and his first foray into complex spiritual themes. This book analyzes all of his career to date: Lee's early Chinese trilogy films (including The Wedding Banquet, 1993, and Eat Drink Man Woman, 1994), period drama (Sense and Sensibility, 1995), martial arts (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000), blockbusters (Hulk, 2003), and intimate portraits of wartime psychology, from the Confederate side of the Civil War (Ride with the Devil, 1999) to Japanese-occupied Shanghai (Lust/Caution, 2007). It examines Lee's favored themes such as father–son relationships and intergenerational conflict in The Ice Storm (1997) and Taking Woodstock (2007). By looking at the beginnings of Lee's career, the book positions the filmmaker's work within the roots of the Taiwan New Cinema movement, as well as the larger context of world cinema.
Iván Villarmea Álvarez
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231174534
- eISBN:
- 9780231850780
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231174534.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter explores the development of contemporary documentary theory in the twenty-first century, beginning with the proliferation of documentary films in mainstream cinema and the portrayal of ...
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This chapter explores the development of contemporary documentary theory in the twenty-first century, beginning with the proliferation of documentary films in mainstream cinema and the portrayal of urban spatialities therein. Just as the cinematic city has traditionally been understood as a simple representation of its real counterpart, non-fiction film has also been regarded as a reflection of reality. This approach, however, has shifted in the last decades to the extent that nowadays most film theorists address documentary as a discourse on the real, a line of argument constructed from visual materials that ultimately expresses a point of view on the historical world. The documentary film provides the audience with a window to the historical world that is simultaneously an entrance to its inhabitants' mind, as it takes the viewer to a given time and place to make them understand its contemporary perception and socio-cultural connotations.Less
This chapter explores the development of contemporary documentary theory in the twenty-first century, beginning with the proliferation of documentary films in mainstream cinema and the portrayal of urban spatialities therein. Just as the cinematic city has traditionally been understood as a simple representation of its real counterpart, non-fiction film has also been regarded as a reflection of reality. This approach, however, has shifted in the last decades to the extent that nowadays most film theorists address documentary as a discourse on the real, a line of argument constructed from visual materials that ultimately expresses a point of view on the historical world. The documentary film provides the audience with a window to the historical world that is simultaneously an entrance to its inhabitants' mind, as it takes the viewer to a given time and place to make them understand its contemporary perception and socio-cultural connotations.
Chris Holmlund (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231169813
- eISBN:
- 9780231850643
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231169813.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Sylvester Stallone has been a defining part of American film for nearly four decades. He has made an impact on world entertainment in a surprisingly diverse range of capacities — as actor, writer, ...
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Sylvester Stallone has been a defining part of American film for nearly four decades. He has made an impact on world entertainment in a surprisingly diverse range of capacities — as actor, writer, producer, and director — all while maintaining a monolithic presence. This book gives this icon finally concerted academic attention. Chapters here examine Stallone's contributions to mainstream cinema, independent film, and television. This volume also offers innovative approaches to star, gender, and celebrity studies, performance analysis, genre criticism, industry and reception inquiry, and the question of what it means to be an auteur. The book investigates the place that Sylvester Stallone occupies within an industry and a culture that have both undergone much evolution, and how his work has reflected and even driven these changes.Less
Sylvester Stallone has been a defining part of American film for nearly four decades. He has made an impact on world entertainment in a surprisingly diverse range of capacities — as actor, writer, producer, and director — all while maintaining a monolithic presence. This book gives this icon finally concerted academic attention. Chapters here examine Stallone's contributions to mainstream cinema, independent film, and television. This volume also offers innovative approaches to star, gender, and celebrity studies, performance analysis, genre criticism, industry and reception inquiry, and the question of what it means to be an auteur. The book investigates the place that Sylvester Stallone occupies within an industry and a culture that have both undergone much evolution, and how his work has reflected and even driven these changes.
Suzanne Gauch
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190262570
- eISBN:
- 9780190262600
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190262570.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter examines Lyès Salem’s popular debut film Masquerades as both a recuperation of the kind of politically neutral, feel-good transcultural entertainment audiences have long expected from ...
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This chapter examines Lyès Salem’s popular debut film Masquerades as both a recuperation of the kind of politically neutral, feel-good transcultural entertainment audiences have long expected from mainstream film centers and a critique of the cultural assumptions underpinning such entertainment. Sophisticated in its reworkings of the romantic comedy, as well as its adoption of conventions of verisimilitude, pacing, and character development, Masquerades reminds us that the most whimsical narratives often pack a critical punch, and that genre can challenge as well as vehicle ideology. This chapter argues that beneath its slapstick humor, encoded in dialogues, costumes, and sets, as well as in what remains unseen, lies a particularly Algerian-inflected reflection on the collision of neoliberalism, the ruins of postindependence socialist ideology, and an autocratic state.Less
This chapter examines Lyès Salem’s popular debut film Masquerades as both a recuperation of the kind of politically neutral, feel-good transcultural entertainment audiences have long expected from mainstream film centers and a critique of the cultural assumptions underpinning such entertainment. Sophisticated in its reworkings of the romantic comedy, as well as its adoption of conventions of verisimilitude, pacing, and character development, Masquerades reminds us that the most whimsical narratives often pack a critical punch, and that genre can challenge as well as vehicle ideology. This chapter argues that beneath its slapstick humor, encoded in dialogues, costumes, and sets, as well as in what remains unseen, lies a particularly Algerian-inflected reflection on the collision of neoliberalism, the ruins of postindependence socialist ideology, and an autocratic state.
