City Limits - by Stephanie Schwerter (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Belfast, Beirut and Berlin are notorious for their internal boundaries and borders. As symbols for political disunion, the three cities have inspired scriptwriters and directors from diverse cultural backgrounds. Despite their different histories, they share a wide range of features central to divided cities. In each city, particular territories take on specific symbolic and psychological meanings. Following a comparative approach, this book concentrates on the cinematographic representations of Belfast, Beirut and Berlin. Filmmakers are in constant search for new ways in order to engage with urban division. Making use of a variety of genres reaching from thriller to comedy, they explore the three cities' internal and external borders, as well as the psychological boundaries existing between citizens belonging to different communities. Among the characters featuring in films set in Belfast, Berlin and Beirut we may count dangerous gunmen, prisoners' wives, soldiers and snipers, but also comic Stasi-members, punk aficionados and fake nuns. The various characters contribute to the creation of a multifaceted image of city limits in troubled times.

Review Quotes

City Limitsis an in-depth study of how cinema responds to political conflict. Schwerter combines fine-grained attention to the history of the German, Lebanese and Northern Irish contexts with lucid, comparatively oriented accounts of the films. In her encompassing analysis, she not only casts new light on high-profile box office hits, but also provides welcome insight on less familiar productions that evidently deserve more attention. Throughout, the overarching motif of the divided city provides a fruitful prism, revealing both important continuities and interesting divergences in cinematic approaches. Although no one in their right mind would want to go back to the past state of the divided cities of Belfast, Beirut and Berlin scrutinised in this study, Schwerter makes a powerful case for why we should return to these compelling, intriguing films.
Charles I. Armstrong, Professor of English Literature, University of Agder, Norway

City Limits: Filming Belfast, Beirut and Berlin in Troubled Timesprovides a fascinating overview and profound analysis of the cinematographic representation of these troubled cities. The author establishes significant links between Belfast, Beirut and Berlin and analyses the extent to which filmmakers have reflected the characteristics of the three places in diverse filmic productions. The book examines the historical and cultural background of these territories, investigating the earliest film representation of all three metropolises, before studying features of the cityscape. While Belfast, Beirut and Berlin share a history of sectarian and political violence, the author also reflects the numerous examples of humorous films produced in or about the cities. This is a captivating study which sheds light on a shamefully neglected area of cultural studies, providing a concise and coherent analysis which is backed up by highly-relevant and updated bibliographical sources.
David M. Clark, Director of The 'Amergin' University Institute of Research in Irish Studies, University of Coruña, Spain

This book is an insightful and ambitious examination of the representation and imagination of the divided cities of Belfast, Beirut and Berlin in cinema. Schwerter investigates aspects highly relevant to film and conflict studies as well as to the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies, centered on comparative film analyses of altogether 35 films.
Angela Vaupel, Senior Lecturer in International Studies, St Mary's University College, Ireland

About the Author

Stephanie Schwerter is Professor of Anglophone Literature at the Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, France. She spent six years in Northern Ireland, working at the University of Ulster and at Queen's University Belfast. Her research interest is in the literary and cinematographic representation of divided cities.