No / As this collection makes abundantly clear, the concept of “World Cinema” can be hard to define. To further establish a sensible definition of what “cult world cinema” might be is to stretch, contort and confuse understanding even further. Scholars have made bold attempts at defining what “cult cinema” might be that range from the “informal” to the “intertextual” by way of the “subcultural”. For instance, Karl and Philip French’s notion of cult as an “intense personal interest and devotion to a person, idea or activity” sought to access the devotional, sacramental aspect of engagement with cinema (French and French 1999: 6). A study by Jancovich and colleagues argued that it is the reception of films and their distinction from, and opposition to, the “mainstream” that defines films as “cult” (Janovich et al. 2003: 2). Mathijs and Sexton (2011) later promoted a rich, intertextual sense of what cult cinema might be, while admitting that because the numerous attempts at defining cult cinema approach the subject from the perspective of the vernacular—“highlighting elements that cannot be caught in a description”—any definition of cult cinema must be tantalisingly “intangible” and “intersubjective” (Mathijs and Sexton 2011: 6).

The film industry in Mainland China has grown rapidly in the 2010s, and in particular, local crime films have emerged over the past decade as a unique cinematic phenomenon that epitomizes China’s political and cultural system and social realities. As little is known about this phenomenon in the West, this thesis would provide a comprehensive review of the history of Chinese crime cinema, with a focus on the development and characteristics of the genre in the 2010s. The introduction defines the object and scope of the study, and briefly introduce the context of the Chinese film industry. The first chapter outlines the different forms of crime films in Mainland China before the 2010s, the strict content censorship in China, and the impact of Hong Kong and Korean films on Mainland Chinese cinema. The second and third chapter reviews selected Chinese crime films released from 2011 to 2020, and interpret in detail the influential ones. The conclusion summarizes the overall trends, commonalities and current status of Chinese crime cinema.

In the 1990s, three Mexican-born filmmakers, Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, began careers that would see them directing films in Mexico, the US, and Europe. The three filmmakers are known for incorporating a broad spectrum of genres and aesthetic traditions from world cinema into their own films. Despite their internationalism, scholars and critics have tended to emphasize their national identity, viewing their films as either intrinsically Mexican or not Mexican enough. I argue that their films reflect multiple national identities and address what it means to live in a global community constituted by a plurality of cultural perspectives. This dissertation reads these auteurs as constructing their films as sites of dialogue between different identities, enabling their work to appeal to global audiences. I also understand these filmmakers as being in conversation with each other through shared themes that articulate specific social scenarios while remaining broad enough to resonate with audiences around the world. Chapter 1 examines Cuarón’s Sólo con tu pareja (1991), del Toro’s Cronos (1993), and Iñárritu’s Amores perros (2000). I read the directors’ thematization of precarity, alienation, and abjection as resonating with audiences in Mexico and the US who experienced the jarring effects of neoliberalism. Chapter 2 discusses Cuarón’s A Little Princess (1995) and del Toro’s Mimic (1997), which I read as sharing a theme of dislocation that spoke to American, Indian, and Latin American societies that were being transformed at the end of the Cold War. Chapter 3 explores how del Toro, Cuarón, and Iñárritu responded to the post-9/11 political environment in Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Children of Men (2006), and Babel (2006). Through their thematic concern with chaos and order, these films spoke to viewers overwhelmed by war, the torture and detainment of terrorist suspects, mass surveillance, harsh immigration policies, and the looming threat of terrorism itself. / 2024-11-14T00:00:00Z

No / With films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Oldboy (2003), Goodbye Lenin! (2003) and The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), the state and popularity of world cinema has rarely been healthier. Through 16 chapters contributed by leading international film scholars, including Dudley Andrew, Lucia Nagib and Michael Chanan, Remapping World Cinema: Identity, Culture and Politics in Film explores many of the key critical and theoretical approaches and debates to this fluid and ever-increasing field of study, including race, stardom, post-colonialism as well as national cinemas¿ relationship with Hollywood. Covering a broad scope, this collection examines the cinemas of Europe, East Asia, India, Africa and Latin America. It will thus be of interest to scholars and students of film studies, cultural studies and post-colonial studies, as well as to film enthusiasts keen to explore a wider range of world cinema.

Book Summary: Commended for their social relevance and artistic value, Chinese films remain at the forefront of international cinema, bolstered in recent years by a new generation of talented young filmmakers. Directory of World Cinema: China presents an accessible overview of the definitive films of Hong Kong and mainland China, with particular attention to the achievements of prolific industry figures, the burgeoning independent sector, and the embrace of avant-garde practices of art cinema. Spanning a variety of characteristic genres, including horror, heroic bloodshed, romantic comedy, and kung-fu, reviews cover individual titles in considerable depth and are accompanied by a selection of full-color film stills. A comprehensive filmography and a bibliography of recommended reading complete this essential companion to Chinese cinema.

Book Summary: Commended for their social relevance and artistic value, Chinese films remain at the forefront of international cinema, bolstered in recent years by a new generation of talented young filmmakers. Directory of World Cinema: China presents an accessible overview of the definitive films of Hong Kong and mainland China, with particular attention to the achievements of prolific industry figures, the burgeoning independent sector, and the embrace of avant-garde practices of art cinema. Spanning a variety of characteristic genres, including horror, heroic bloodshed, romantic comedy, and kung-fu, reviews cover individual titles in considerable depth and are accompanied by a selection of full-color film stills. A comprehensive filmography and a bibliography of recommended reading complete this essential companion to Chinese cinema.

Cette recherche part d’un double intérêt. Pour la spiritualité, dont on entend beaucoup parler dans un 21e siècle inquiet et en quête de nouveaux repères. Et pour le cinéma, ou 7e art, phénomène culturel phare des temps modernes, qui reflète abondamment les problématiques et questionnements du monde. À une époque où on observe une tendance à l’homogénéisation culturelle, résultat de la mondialisation économique, cette thèse traite du « cinéma transnational ». Elles aussi, les œuvres de ce cinéma traversent l’espace planétaire, mais tout en conservant un solide ancrage local et une singularité artistique. Ce sont en bonne partie les films que l’on retrouve dans les festivals internationaux, tels Cannes, Venise et Berlin. Le cinéma traduisant toutes les interrogations possibles du présent, plusieurs films apparaissent donc porteurs d’un questionnement à portée spirituelle. Et ce, avec des moyens non discursifs, propres à l’art cinématographique. Ils invitent aussi à la rencontre de l’autre. L’objectif de la thèse consiste à décrire comment, par l’analyse d’une douzaine de films transnationaux, on peut dégager de nouveaux concepts sur la façon avec laquelle se vit la spiritualité à notre époque, en relation avec l’autre, et pourquoi cette spiritualité s’accompagne nécessairement de considérations éthiques. Pour accomplir cette tâche, la thèse s’appuie sur les travaux de deux philosophes, Gilles Deleuze (France) et Stanley Cavell (États-Unis), qui ont marqué les études cinématographiques au cours des dernières décennies, par des approches jugées complémentaires pour cette recherche. Le premier a développé sa pensée à partir de ce qui distingue le cinéma des autres arts, et le second, à partir de l’importance du cinéma pour les spectateurs et les spectatrices. Enfin, la thèse se veut une théologie, ou pensée théologico-philosophique, indépendante d’une tradition religieuse et au diapason des réalités du 21e siècle. / This research is based upon two fields of interest. For spirituality, a concept very much to the fore in this troubled 21st century in search of fresh yardsticks. And for cinema, aka the 7th Art, a beacon on the cultural scene, with its insights in today’s issues and questionings. In this era of cultural homogenization, itself the result of economic globalization, this thesis probes “transnational cinema” for fresh answers. Transnational films cross the global space while keeping their local roots and own artistic identity. Very often one will find these works featured in the big film festivals, such as Cannes, Berlin or Venice. Focusing on today’s questionings and issues, many of these movies appear to be bearing a spiritual imprint, with non-discursive methods. They promote openness to others. The goal of this thesis is to describe, through an analysis of a dozen transnational films, how new concepts defining ways to live a spiritual life today can be found. Further the thesis will underline why this spirituality is linked with ethics. To reach that goal, the thesis relies strongly on the works of philosophers Gilles Deleuze (France) and Stanley Cavell (USA). Both have been judged to have complementary approaches for this research, and have made a strong mark on cinematographic studies in the last decades. Deleuze has developed his philosophy on what distinguishes cinema from the other arts. Cavell has focused his thoughts on the importance of cinema for its viewers. Finally, this thesis is in the form of a theology, or theologic-philosophic thought, not linked to a religious tradition and in synchronicity with its times.

The family has always been a central narrative theme in cinema. Korean cinema has been no exception, where the family has proved to be a popular subject since its earliest days. Yet Western scholarship on Korean cinema has given little attention to this dominant theme, preferring to concentrate on the film industry's recent revival and its blockbusters. Scholarship in Korea and in the Korean language, on the hand, has continuously discussed some of the major cinematic works on the family. However, such literature has tended to be in the form of articles discussing one or two particular works. A comprehensive study of the family in contemporary Korean cinema therefore remains absent both in Korean and in English. This thesis is an attempt to provide such a work, bringing together films on the family and writings on them in both Western and Korean scholarships, as well as filling the gaps where certain trends and patterns have gone undetected. How are the changes in the understanding of the family or in the roles of individual family members reworked, imagined, or desired in films? Taking this question as the starting point of the research, each chapter explores a separate theme: transformations in the structure of the family; faltering patriarchy and fatherhood; motherhood and the extremity of maternal love; and certain children's experiences of the family. The first chapter detects a general move away from the traditional patriarchal nuclear family and an interest in depicting alternative families, exploring shifting family forms in contemporary society and the public discourses surrounding them. The second chapter highlights the contradictory ways that the father has been illustrated in films during and after the IMF crisis. The third chapter explores a branch of recent thrillers that depicts mothers as dark and dangerous characters, offering an interesting cultural framing to the multiple perceptions of the mother figure in contemporary society. Finally, the last chapter aims to extend representations of the 'Korean family' to include films by/about those currently living outside of Korea, namely Korean emigrants and adoptees.