Contemporary Balkan Cinema - (Traditions in World Cinema) by Lydia Papadimitriou & Ana Grgic (Paperback)

About the Book

This edited collection examines post-2008 developments in Balkan cinema in terms of aesthetics and industry. It provides critical and comprehensive profiles of the cinematic output in each Balkan country, while stressing transnational links, global networks and cross-cultural exchanges.

Book Synopsis

The first inclusive collection to examine post-2008 developments in Balkan cinema, this book brings together a number of international scholars to explore its industrial contexts and textual dimensions. With a focus on transnational links, global networks and cross-cultural exchanges, the book addresses the role of national and supranational institutions as well as film festival networks in supporting film production, distribution and reception. It also identifies key characteristics in the subject matter and aesthetics of Balkan films made since the global economic crisis. Through critical and comprehensive country profiles, and with a focus on smaller and underrepresented cinemas from Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Albania, the collection argues for the continuing relevance of the concept of 'Balkan cinema'.

From the Back Cover

'Offering an imaginative and convincing reconceptualisation of Balkan cinema, this volume brings to life the rich results of efforts by talented filmmakers and committed film industry professionals in thirteen countries. Capacious in scope, the book examines films, but also, crucially, the forging, since 2008, of productive, collaborative links across the Balkan region. An uplifting and inspiring read, Contemporary Balkan Cinema shows us how thoughtful and resilient practitioners have sought to overcome multiple challenges including small nationhood and political impasse, and achieve the means for meaningful, sustainable filmmaking.' Mette Hjort, Hong Kong Baptist University 'This is an exceptionally timely book that both updates and innovates the notion of Balkan cinema. Taking the financial crisis of 2008 as its starting point - rather than postcommunism, which has lost its significance - this collection offers new interpretation of the cinema of the Balkans and forms new constellations within these fast growing, intertwined cinema industries. There is a gap in current research on Balkan cinema, which has splintered into various national cinemas, and this volume patently fills this gap by insisting on inclusiveness in accounting for the region's cinema production. This book will undoubtedly be a key resource for the study of Balkan cinema in the future.' Lars Kristensen, University of Skövde, Sweden 'This comprehensive and outstandingly-organized collection studies a dynamic segment of the European cinema and inspires its rethinking in a global context. It insightfully regards the year 2008 as a game-changer in the filmmaking practices of the region and stands out for its ambition to trace cross-border cultural fertilizations and highlight transnational cooperation.' Constantin Parvulescu, Babeș-Bolyai University The first inclusive collection to examine post-2008 developments in Balkan cinema, this book brings together a number of international scholars to explore its industrial contexts and textual dimensions. With a focus on transnational links, global networks and cross-cultural exchanges, the book addresses the role of national and supranational institutions as well as film festival networks in supporting film production, distribution and reception. It also identifies key characteristics in the subject matter and aesthetics of Balkan films made since the global economic crisis. Through critical and comprehensive country profiles, and with a focus on smaller and underrepresented cinemas from Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Albania, the collection argues for the continuing relevance of the concept of 'Balkan cinema'. Lydia Papadimitriou is Reader (Associate Professor) in Film Studies at Liverpool John Moores University. Ana Grgic is a Lecturer in Film, TV and Screen Studies at Monash University Malaysia. Cover image: I Do Not Care If We Go Down In History As Barbarians (directed by Radu Jude, Romania/Czech Republic/France/Bulgaria/Germany, 2018). Image courtesy of Hi Film Productions Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-1-4744-5843-6 Barcode

Review Quotes

This book provides a balanced and multifaceted view of Balkan cinema as a dynamic entity that deserves more attention from film critics and film scholars alike.--Antonina Anisimovich "Studies in Eastern European Cinema"

Contemporary Balkan Cinema is a truly collaborative contribution to transnational screen studies in general and to the study of Balkan cinemas in particular, pointing out in detail their common shared production and aesthetic components. The collection provides a very clear picture of what constitutes the diverse narratives that define cinemas of the Balkans.--Murat Akser, Ulster University "New Review of Film and Television Studies"

Contemporary Balkan Cinema: Transnational Exchanges and Global Circuits proves a much needed contribution to the field. [...] a valuable contribution to both scholars and viewers interested in cinematic output from the region.--Maya Nedyalkova, Oxford Brookes University "Studies in Eastern European Cinema"

[...] a well-detailed book that covers all the important issues that are inextricably linked to the Balkan cinema of today. [...] The editors and the authors of the volume provide thus an indispensable and updated record on the Balkan cinema that functions both as a scholarly study and a reference book.--Dimitris Kerkinos, Festival Programmer, Head of Tributes & Balkan Survey "FILMICON: Journal of Greek Film Studies, Issue 7"

An original contribution that pushes the envelope while remaining in dialogue with its antecedents. [...] It is a timely addition to steadily growing scholarship on emergent film cultures in Eastern Europe and the European South where the many exciting possibilities transnationalism can afford for both filmmaking and film scholarship materialize.--Philip E. Phillis, Po Collège "EuropeNow"

As an interesting, insightful and well nuanced reading of Balkan cinema, the book allows us to feel the pulse of the film production across the region that is, in the words of Dina Iordanova, 'hard to pin down' as it 'poses a variety of narrative challenges'. Rising to these challenges, Contemporary Balkan Cinema: Transnational Exchanges and Global Circuits is instrumental in driving the scholarship forward.--Vesna Lukic, Middlesex University "Transnational Screens, 12:3"

Offering an imaginative and convincing reconceptualisation of Balkan cinema, this volume brings to life the rich results of efforts by talented filmmakers and committed film industry professionals in thirteen countries. Capacious in scope, the book examines films, but also, crucially, the forging, since 2008, of productive, collaborative links across the Balkan region. An uplifting and inspiring read, Contemporary Balkan Cinema shows us how thoughtful and resilient practitioners have sought to overcome multiple challenges including small nationhood and political impasse, and achieve the means for meaningful, sustainable filmmaking.--Mette Hjort, Hong Kong Baptist University

The 13 studies are of crucial importance for understanding the cinema's evolution in the Balkan countries in recent decades.--Marian Ţuţui "Studies and Research on Art History"

This comprehensive and outstandingly-organized collection studies a dynamic segment of the European cinema and inspires its rethinking in a global context. It insightfully regards the year 2008 as a game-changer in the filmmaking practices of the region and stands out for its ambition to trace cross-border cultural fertilizations and highlight transnational cooperation.--Constantin Parvulescu, Babeș-Bolyai University

This is an exceptionally timely book that both updates and innovates the notion of Balkan cinema. Taking the financial crisis of 2008 as its starting point - rather than postcommunism, which has lost its significance - this collection offers new interpretation of the cinema of the Balkans and forms new constellations within these fast growing, intertwined cinema industries. There is a gap in current research on Balkan cinema, which has splintered into various national cinemas, and this volume patently fills this gap by insisting on inclusiveness in accounting for the region's cinema production. This book will undoubtedly be a key resource for the study of Balkan cinema in the future.--Lars Kristensen, University of Skövde, Sweden

About the Author

Lydia Papadimitriou is Reader (Associate Professor) in Film Studies at Liverpool John Moores University. She has published extensively on different aspects of Greek cinema, including (digital) film distribution, co-productions, film festivals and documentary. She has authored The Greek Film Musical (2006), co-edited Greek Cinema: Texts, Forms and Identities (2011), and is the Principal Editor of the Journal of Greek Media and Culture. She has published numerous articles in books and journals, including New Review of Film and Television Studies, International Journal of Media Management, Studies in European Cinema and Screen.

Ana Grgic, PhD (University of St Andrews) is a Lecturer in Screen Studies at Monash University Malaysia. She has published on questions of identity, memory and archives in Balkan cinema. Her publications appeared in Studies in Eastern European Cinema, Short Film Studies, Film Quarterly, The Film Festival Yearbook and Cinemas of Paris. She co-edited two special issues: on Albanian cinema (KinoKultura) and on Central and Eastern European women editors (Apparatus). Her monograph on early cinema in the Balkans is forthcoming with Amsterdam University Press.