Cinematic Homecomings Exile and Return in Transnational Cinema

by Prime, Rebecca

• ISBN13: 9781501319952
• ISBN10: 1501319957
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2016-05-19
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

The history of cinema charts multiple histories of exile. From the German émigrés in 1930s Hollywood to today's Iranian filmmakers in Europe and the United States, these histories continue to exert a profound influence on the evolution of cinematic narratives and aesthetics. But while the effect of exile and diaspora on film practice has been fruitfully explored from both historical and contemporary perspectives, the issues raised by return, whether literal or metaphorical, have yet to be fully considered.

Cinematic Homecomings expands upon existing studies of transnational cinema by addressing the questions raised by reverse migration and the return home in a variety of historical and national contexts, from postcolonialism to post-Communism. By looking beyond exile, the contributors offer a multidirectional perspective on the relationship between migration, mobility, and transnational cinema. 'Narratives of return' are among the most popular themes of the contemporary cinema of countries ranging from Morocco to Cuba to the Soviet Union. This speaks to both the sociocultural reality of reverse migration and to its significance on the imagination of the nation.

Author Biography

Rebecca Prime is a film historian whose publications include Hollywood Exiles in Europe: the Blacklist and Cold War Film Culture (2014). A Fulbright scholar, she holds degrees from Columbia University, New York University, and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction – Rebecca Prime, Hood College, USA

I. Transatlantic Modes of Production

Come Back to Erin: Themes of Exile and Return in the “O'Kalem” Films
Peter Flynn, Emerson College, USA

Alexander Korda and Peter Lorre: Central European Exile and the Illusion of Return
Catherine Portuges, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

From Blacklists to Black Films: The Hollywood Radicals Return Home
Rebecca Prime, Hood College, USA

II. Nostalgic Visions, Imagined Homelands

Between Longing and Belonging: Diasporic Return in Contemporary South Korean Cinema
We Jung Yi, New York University, USA

Three Ages of Russian Nostalgia: Nostalgia, Window to Paris, and Brother 2
Milla Federova, Georgetown University, USA

Beyond Return in Turkish Diasporic Cinema
Silvia Kratzer, UCLA, Chapman University, Pepperdine University, USA

III. Exilic Subjectivity and the Politics of Return

Staying Home: Cuban Exile Film from Within
Mariana Johnson, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, USA

Chilean Exile Cinema and its Homecoming Documentaries
José Miguel Palacios, New York University, USA

Burning Straw Men: The 1979 Revolution and Bahman Farmanara's Stubborn Cosmopolitanism
Matthew Holtmeier, Western Washington University, USA

IV. Re-visioning the Past

Returning to Rubble: Fritz Kortner's The Last Illusion
Martina Moeller, Université Mohammed V in Rabat, Morocco

Healing Journeys: Return as Therapy in Walk on Water
Ido Ramati, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

V. The Roving Gaze

Narratives of Return in the Films of Ousmane Sembene and Djibril Diop
Malini Guha, Carleton University, Canada

Sleeping with Strangers: Queering Home and Identity in I Don't Want to Sleep Alone
Kai-man Chang, Tulane University, USA

A Moroccan Homecoming: The Fabulation of Family and Home in Izza Génini's Retrouver Oulad Moumen
Stefanie Van de Peer, University of Stirling, UK

Zero Degrees of Separation: Post-Exilic Return in Denis Villeneuve's Incendies
Claudia Kotte, Humboldt University, Germany

Afterword – Dina Iordanova, University of St. Andrews, UK

Contributors

Index