In the first book-length study of this topic, D.W. McKiernan examines the way mainstream commercial cinema represents society's complex relationship with the idea and practice of community in the context of rapidly changing social conditions. Films examined include "Fond Kiss," "The Idiots" and "Monsoon Wedding."

At the beginning of the 21st century, the US film industry had overtaken aeronautics and car industries to become one of the highest exporters of American products. Mark Wheeler's important new book provides both a political history of Hollywood and a reflection on the relationship between cinema and politics in America, from 1900 to the present day. Wheeler considers the interplay between the movies studios, state and national government and cultural policy and legislation, with case studies of the censorship that followed in the wake of the Hays Code 1930 and the investigations of the House Committee of Un-American Activities (HUAC) in the 1950s that led to the notorious blacklisting of alleged or known Communist sympathisers. His history of political constituencies within Hollywood ranges from the conservative right to the liberal and the communist left, from trades unionists to movie moguls. The book concludes with a look at the politics of show business, addressing links between Hollywood and political activism, films such as "The Candidate" and "Bulworth" that have themselves engaged with the political process, and considering the irony that despite the fact that Hollywood is perceived as a bastion of liberalism the two most famous actors-turned-politicians have been Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This book describes and critically addresses the innovations and shifts made in the revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) adopted by the European Parliament and Council in 2018. Reflecting on European Union regulation and policy practice in all its Member States, the book's unique approach places in-depth case study topics against the broader theoretical background. Taking a Europe-wide angle, an international team of authors focuses on key aspects of the AVMSD: the expansion of its scope to include video-sharing-platforms such as YouTube; the update of the rules for commercial communications; the first attempt for harmonized, minimal requirements at EU level regarding transparency of media ownership; new rules to ensure that video-on-demand services offer, invest in, and prioritise European content; the obligation on television distributors and smart TV manufacturers to pass on broadcasters' signal without any interference, alteration or modification; and, the formalisation and consolidation of new forms of collaboration among national regulatory authorities. This thorough analysis of the cornerstone of European media policy makes this edited collection a crucial reference for scholars and students of media and cultural industries, media law and policy, European and EU media policy, and technology studies.

John Hill traces the history of film production in Northern Ireland from the beginnings of a local film industry in the 1920s and 1930s, when the first Northern Irish 'quota quickies' were made, through the propaganda films of the 1940s and 1950s and on to the cinema of the 'Troubles'.

This volume examines the transmission, reception, and reproduction of new cinematic styles, meanings, practices, and norms in early twenty-first-century Asia. Hong Kong and Bollywood offers new answers to the field of inter-Asian cultural studies, which has been energized by the trends towards transnationalism and translatability. It brings together a team of international scholars to capture the latest development in the film industries of Hong Kong and Mumbai, and to explore similar cross-cultural, political, and socioeconomic issues. It also explains how Hong Kong and Bollywood filmmakers have gone beyond the traditional focus on nationalism, urbanity and biculturalism to reposition themselves as new cultural forces in the pantheon of global cinema.

This book crosses the conventional border between the analysis of on-screen and off-screen intersections of law and cinema. It not only addresses the representation of law on screen (for example, through discussions of how lawyers, police, and prisons are depicted, or how courtroom sequences function as narratives), but also focuses on how the state shapes and regulates cinema. The volume addresses the distinct contexts of China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam, along with an integrative introduction that puts the essays and themes into context for scholars and students alike.

East Germany's film monopoly, Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA), produced a breadth and depth of films ranging beyond simple propaganda to westerns, science fiction films, musicals, melodramas, spy thrillers, women's films, fairy tales, and children's films. This book covers the entire range of filmmaking under the DEFA logo, from their beginnings in the Soviet Occupied Zone through unification and shows their continuing impact in contemporary culture. East German cinema offers the opportunity to see the complete picture of German film past Murnau, Lang, von Sternberg, and Fassbinder to equally important East German directors such as Frank Beyer, Wolfgang Staudte, Kurt Maetzig, and Konrad Wolf.As an introductory work, this book equips scholars and students with the historical and cultural background to understand East German cinema and guides the readers through the DEFA archive using critical examinations of twelve films - a list one could consider the core of an East German film canon.

This title combines, in a unique and innovative way, analytical approaches from literary narratology, film studies and new media studies.This title examines the recent cinematic trend of 'modular' narrative form, in which the temporal flow of the narrative is disrupted. It identifies and describes four different models of cinematic modular narrative. There is increasing academic interest in the topic of narrative complexity in film, illustrated by significant recent attention in journal articles, but this is the first monograph to study the phenomenon exclusively. It combines analytical approaches from literary narratology, film studies and new media studies. It includes analysis of a number of 'cult' films that are popular among film students both in the UK and the US e.g. Run Lola Run, 21 Grams, and Memento.Since the early 1990s there has been a trend towards narrative complexity within popular cinema. This book examines a number of contemporary films that play overtly with narrative structure, raising questions of chance and destiny, memory and history, simultaneity and the representation of time.

This book examines the economic circumstances in which films were produced, distributed, exhibited, and consumed during the spoken era of film production until 1970. The periodisation covers the years between the onset of sound and the demise of the phased distribution of films. Films are generally appreciated for their aesthetic qualities. But they are also commodities. This work of economic history presents a new approach, considering consumption behaviour as significant as supply-side decision-making. Audiences' tastes are considered central, with box-office an indicator of what they liked. The POPSTAT Index of Film Popularity is used as a proxy where box office knowledge is missing. Comparative analysis is conducted through the tool RelPOP. The book comprises original case studies covering film consumption in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States during the 1930s; Australia and occupied Belgium during the Second World War; and Italy, the United States, Poland and Czechoslovakia during the Post-war. An overriding theme is how the classical American business model, which emerged during the 1910s linking production to distribution and exhibition, adapted to local circumstances, including the two countries behind the Iron Curtain during the years of 'High Stalinism'.

From Hollywood blockbusters to art films, distributors play an important role in getting films in front of audiences and thus in shaping the nature of film culture. Of central concern to "Reaching Audiences" are the distribution practices developed to counter Hollywood's dominance of the marketplace, designed to ensure audiences have access to a more diverse moving image culture. Through a series of case studies, the book tracks the inventive distribution and exhibition initiatives developed over the last forty years by small companies on the periphery of the United Kingdom's film industry--practices now being replicated by a new generation of digital distributors. Although largely invisible to outsiders, the importance of distribution networks is widely recognized in the industry, and this book is a key contribution to our understanding of the role they play.

Provides an introduction to the products and context of the new Australian film industry which arose toward the end of the 1960s. Traces the development of Australian film, in terms of prominent directors and stars, consistent themes, styles and evolving genres. The evolution of the film genres peculiar to Australia, and the adaptation of conventional Hollywood forms (such as the musical and the road movie) are examined in detail through textual readings of landmark films. Films and trends discussed include: the period film and Picnic at Hanging Rock; the Gothic film and the Mad Max trilogy; camp and kitsch comedy and the Adventures of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert. The key issue of the revival (the definition, representation and propagation of a national image) is woven through analysis of the new Australian cinema. -- .

- A new edition of a successful textbook on an established, growing and core area of film study, this book is specifically aimed at students taking film business courses. - The only book to look at the film business outside of Hollywood and to teach how to finance films within an international context. - Includes real life examples and case studies from UK, Europe and the USA, including new dedicated chapters on Netflix and the Chinese Film Industry.

Despite being one of the biggest industries in the United States, indeed the World, the internal workings of the 'dream factory' that is Hollywood is little understood outside the business. The Hollywood Studio System: A History is the first book to describe and analyse the complete development, classic operation, and reinvention of the global corporate entitles which produce and distribute most of the films we watch. Starting in 1920, Adolph Zukor, Head of Paramount Pictures, over the decade of the 1920s helped to fashion Hollywood into a vertically integrated system, a set of economic innovations which was firmly in place by 1930. For the next three decades, the movie industry in the United States and the rest of the world operated by according to these principles. Cultural, social and economic changes ensured the dernise of this system after the Second World War. A new way to run Hollywood was required. Beginning in 1962, Lew Wasserman of Universal Studios emerged as the key innovator in creating a second studio system. He realized that creating a global media conglomerate was more important than simply being vertically integrated. Gomery's history tells the story of a 'tale of two systems 'using primary materials from a score of archives across the United States as well as a close reading of both the business and trade press of the time. Together with a range of photographs never before published the book also features over 150 box features illuminating aspect of the business.

This book explores the challenges facing women from their mid-forties as they attempt to build/maintain careers in the screen industries. Essays are concerned with the intersection of gender and age on screen and behind the camera and how that can create a 'double jeopardy'. Existing research in this area has been primarily directed to onscreen representation. Female actors, with notable exceptions, struggle to get screen time and expansive roles as they age. Behind the camera, women 45+ also face challenges and roadblocks; to date, less attention has been directed to this group. The cross-cultural research in this collection offers an analysis of representation, on and off screen, touching on film, television, streaming services and film festivals. It includes an exploration of gendered ageism, age bias and stereotyping. It also highlights the achievements of mature female practitioners who, in their work and working lives, embody a resistance to restrictive cultural discourses about ageing women.

The Mad Max Effect provides an in-depth analysis of the Mad Max series, and how it began as an inventive concoction of a number of influences from a range of exploitation genres (including the biker movie, the revenge film, and the car chase cinema of the 1970s), to eventually inspiring a fresh cycle of international low budget 'road warrior' movies that appeared on home video in the 1980s. The Mad Max Effect is the first detailed academic study of the most famous and celebrated post-apocalypse film series, and examines how a humble Australian action movie came from the cultural margins of exploitation cinema to have a profound impact on the broader media landscape.

"The most detailed and up-to-date book on independent cinema, an invaluable reference work." - Molly Haskell, "Washington Post"

"Thoughtful and substantial." - Stuart Klawans, "The Nation"

"An indispensable text for anyone who wants to understand the independent world." - David Ansen of "Newsweek"

"At a time when independent American films are more visible and important than ever before, this is an invaluable study. Emanuel Levy's writing is wise, passionate, and amazingly well-informed." - Roger Ebert

"The time is ripe for an intelligent, informed, well-organized book on the world of independent cinema - and Emanuel Levy has given us just that." - Leonard Maltin

A Los Angeles Times Bestseller

The most important development in American culture of the last two decades is the emergence of independent cinema as a viable alternative to Hollywood. Indeed, while Hollywood's studios devote much of their time and energy to churning out big-budget, star-studded event movies, a renegade independent cinema that challenges mainstream fare continues to flourish with strong critical support and loyal audiences.

Cinema of Outsiders is the first and only comprehensive chronicle of contemporary independent movies from the late 1970s up to the present. From the hip, audacious early works of maverick David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, and Spike Lee, to the contemporary Oscar-winning success of indie dynamos, such as the Coen brothers ("Fargo"), Quentin Tarentino ("Pulp Fiction"), and Billy Bob Thornton ("Sling Blade"), Levy describes in a lucid and accessible manner the innovation and diversity of American indies in theme, sensibility, and style.

Documenting the socio-economic, political and artistic forces that led to the rise of American independent film, Cinema of Outsiders depicts the pivotal role of indie guru Robert Redford and his Sundance Film Festival in creating a showcase for indies, the function of film schools in supplying talent, and the continuous tension between indies and Hollywood as two distinct industries with their own structure, finance, talent and audience.

Levy describes the major cycles in the indie film movement: regional cinema, the New York school of film, African-American, Asian American, gay and lesbian, and movies made by women. Based on exhaustive research of over 1,000 movies made between 1977 and 1999, Levy evaluates some 200 quintessential indies, including "Choose Me," "Stranger Than Paradise," "Blood Simple," "Blue Velvet," "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Slacker," "Poison," "Reservoir Dogs," "Gas Food Lodging," "Menace II Society," "Clerks," "In the Company of Men," "Chasing Amy," "The Apostle," "The Opposite of Sex," and "Happiness,"

Cinema of Outsiders reveals the artistic and political impact of bold and provocative independent movies in displaying the cinema of "outsiders"-the cinema of the "other America."

Exploring the multiple aesthetic and cultural links between French and Japanese cinema, The Cinematic Influence is packed with vivid examples and case studies of films by Akira Kurosawa, Jean-Luc Godard, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Claire Denis, Naomi Kawase, Michel Gondry and many others. It illustrates the vast array of cinematic connections that mark a long history of mutual influence and reverence between filmmakers in France and Japan. The book provides new insights into the ways that national cinemas resist Hollywood to maintain and strengthen their own cultural practices and how these national cinemas perform the task of informing and enlightening other cultures about what it means to be French or Japanese. This book also deepens our understandings of film's role as a viable cultural and economic player in individual nations. Importantly, the reader will see that film operates as a form of cultural exchange between France and Japan, and more broadly, Europe and Asia. This is the first major book to investigate the crossover between these two diverse national cinemas by tracking their history of shared narrative and stylistic techniques.

While Israel has seemingly been a minor presence in Hollywood cinema, Reimagining the Promised Land argues that there is a long history of Hollywood deploying images of Israel as a means of articulating an idealized notion of American national identity. This argument is developed through readings of The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956), Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (William Wyler, 1959), Exodus (Otto Preminger, 1960), Cast a Giant Shadow (Melville Shavelson, 1966), Black Sunday (John Frankenheimer, 1977), The Delta Force (Menahem Golan, 1986), and Munich (Steven Spielberg, 2005). The mobilization of Israel that pervades this eclectic group of films effectively demonstrates one of the more surreptitious ways in which Hollywood has historically constructed and circulated dominant notions of American national identity. Moreover, in examining the most notable Hollywood representations of the Jewish state, the book offers an informed historical overview of the cultural forces that have contributed to popular understandings within the United States of the state of Israel, Israel's Arab neighbours, and also the Arab-Israeli conflict.

This volume provides a collection of original essays from leading scholars in the field exploring the contemporary debates, concerns and controversies ongoing in Spanish film industry, culture and scholarship. The essays reveal the far-reaching shifts that have occurred in the Spanish film scene, making essential reading for all interested in European cinema.

The Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film is a unique, one volume work which illuminates a fascinating variety of cinema which is little known outside its own area. The Encyclopedia is divided into nine chapters, each written by a leading scholar in the field. Each chapter covers the history and major issues of film within that area, as well as providing bibliographies of the leading films, directors and actors. The areas covered are: Central Asia, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, The Magreb, Palestine, Turkey. This Encyclopedia will be an invaluable reference tool for students and scholars of Film and Media Studies. It contains more than 60 black and white photographs of featured films, includes references and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, and the volume concludes with comprehensive name, film and general indexes.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203426495

Over the last two decades European films have lost two-thirds of the cinema-going audience to American films. Among the different approaches and cost structures of the European and American industries there is one area where the US invest significantly more than Europe: development. This text focuses on this critical stage of the film-making process. It is based on extensive research and interviews with more than 70 industry practitioners. It provides details of national and pan-European funds which are available for film development, as well as information about training initiatives for writers and producers. There is also a useful directory of contacts, addresses and application procedures for public and private funding bodies throughout Europe. This book provides practical advice and information for any film producer, script executive, writer or director aiming to move their projects from the idea stage into production, and to exploit the market for their scripts and films.

Gender studies has maintained its status as a heavily researched field. However, women and their role in cinema is a vastly understudied topic that deals with various aspects of feminism and sexism. The function of women in the film industry has evolved over time and proven to be an interesting area of research regarding the transition from sexual icons to respected professionals. Feminism is a widely researched subject, yet its specific application within cinema is an area that has yet to be studied. International Perspectives on Feminism and Sexism in the Film Industry is an essential reference source that examines the representation of women in cinema and provides a feminist approach to various aspects of the film industry including labor, production, and the cultural impact of women in motion pictures. Featuring research on topics such as violence against women, feminist film theory, and psychoanalysis, this book is ideally designed for directors, industry professionals, writers, screenwriters, activists, professors, students, administrators, and researchers in fields that include film studies, gender studies, mass media, and communications.

In Hollywood, the goals of art and business are entangled. Directors, writers, actors, and idealistic producers aspire to make the best films possible. These aspirations often interact with the dominant firms that control Hollywood film distribution. This control of distribution is crucial as it enables the firms and other large businesses involved, such as banks that offer financing, to effectively stand between film production and the market. This book analyses the power structure of the Hollywood film business and its general modes of behaviour. More specifically, the work analyses how the largest Hollywood firms attempt to control social creativity such that they can mitigate the financial risks inherent in the art of filmmaking. Controlling the ways people make or watch films, the book argues, is a key element of Hollywood's capitalist power. Capitalist power-the ability to control, modify, and, sometimes, limit social creation through the rights of ownership-is the foundation of capital accumulation. For the Hollywood film business, capitalist power is about the ability of business concerns to set the terms that will shape the future of cinema. For the major film distributors of Hollywood, these terms include the types of films that will be distributed, the number of films that will be distributed, and the cinematic alternatives that will be made available to the individual moviegoer. Combining theoretical analysis with detailed empirical research on the financial performance of the major Hollywood film companies, the book details how Hollywood's capitalist goals have clashed with the aesthetic potentials of cinema and ultimately stymied creativity in the pursuit of limiting risk. This sharp critique of the Hollywood machine provides vital reading for students and scholars of political economy, political theory, film studies, and cinema.

In this second edition of Investing in Movies, industry veteran Joseph N. Cohen provides investors and producers with an analytical framework to assess the opportunities and pitfalls of film investments. The book traces macroeconomic trends and the globalization of the business, including the rise of streamers, as well as the impact these have on potential returns. It offers a broad range of guidelines on how to source interesting projects and advice on what kinds of projects to avoid, as well as numerous ways to maximize risk-adjusted returns. While focusing primarily on investments in independent films, Cohen also provides valuable insights into the studio and independent slate deals that have been marketed to the institutional investment community. As well, this new edition has been updated to fully optimize the current film industry climate including brand new chapters on the Chinese film market, new media/streaming services, and the effects of COVID-19 on the global film market. Written in a detailed and approachable manner, this book is essential for students and aspiring professionals looking to gain an insider perspective against the minefield of film investing.