Theorizing World Cinema

This innovative book is about the place of world cinema in the cultural imaginary. It also repositions world cinema in a wider discursive space than is usually the case and treats it as an object of theoretical enquiry, rather than as a commercial label. The editors and distinguished group of contributors offer a range of approaches and case studies whose organizing principle is the developing idea of polycentrism as applied to cinema. They 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. They re-evaluate how cinema shapes and responds to the philosophical, cultural and political effects of transnationalism and cosmopolitanism in the age of the moving image, and explore the interconnectedness of films produced worldwide, as well as the links between cinema and other visual cultural forms. The contributors include: John Caughie, Felicia Chan, Tiago de Luca, Rajinder Dudrah, Song Hwee Lim, Laura Mulvey, Lucia Nagib, Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, Chris Perriam, Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Julian Smith, and Ismail Xavier.

Review: 'This excellent collection reenergizes the study of world cinemas with its rigorous commitment to rethinking established theoretical concerns and ideas. This book is an indispensable reference for anyone interested in what the state of film theory is today.' - Professor Tim Bergfelder, University of Southampton; 'Theorizing World Cinema develops a polycentric approach to Film Studies that is truly groundbreaking.' - Professor Mette Hjort, Lingnan University, Hong Kong; 'The editors have brought together an impressive list of scholars, whose contributions offer compelling perspectives on film theory today, as it faces the challenges of a post-medium cinema and increasingly focuses on the experience of embodied and situated spectators.' - Professor Thomas Elsaesser, University of Amsterdam