Cinematic Homecomings Exile and Return in Transnational Cinema

by Prime, Rebecca

• ISBN13: 9781441124470
• ISBN10: 1441124470
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-11-20
• 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 the Libman Professor of the Humanities at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, USA. She specializes in the fields of transnational film history and aesthetics with emphasis on cross-cultural studies of postwar American and European cinema. Her book, Intimate Strangers: Blacklisted Filmmakers in Postwar Europe, is forthcoming. Her work has been published in Film History: An International Journal, Film Studies: An International Review, Post Script: Essays in Film and the Humanities, and the edited volume, "Un-American" Hollywood: Politics and Film in the Blacklist Era (2007). In 2006, she was the recipient of a Fulbright Advanced Student Fellowship for France.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction - Rebecca Prime
II. Transatlantic Modes of Production
Come Back to Erin: Themes of Exile and Return in the "O'Kalem" Films, 1910-1915 -- Peter Flynn,
Korda and Lorre: Central European Exile and the Illusion of Return -- Catherine Portuges,
From Black Lists to Black Films: The Hollywood Radicals Return Home -- Rebecca Prime,
III. Nostalgic Visions, Imagined Homelands
Between Longing and Belonging: the Korean Diaspora's Imagination of Home -- We Jung Yi
Three Ages of Russian Nostalgia: "Nostalgia," "Window to Paris," and "Brother 2" -- Milla Federova,
Redefining Return in Turkish Diasporic Cinema -- Silvia Kratzer
IV. Internal Exiles
"Always at Home": Exile Return in Cuban Cinema -- Mariana Johnson,
An Exiled Filmmaker Under House Arrest: Bahman Farmanara's "Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine" -- Matthew Holtmeier,
Nicholas Roeg's "Walkabout": Narratives of Survival, Loss and Return -- Suneeti Rekhari
V. Re-visioning the Past
Narratives of Return in German Post-war Cinema: the Romantic Discourse in Fritz Kortner's "The Last Illusion" -- Martina Moeller
Returning to Germany in Contemporary Israeli Cinema -- Ido Ramati
VI. The Outsider's Gaze
Narratives of Return in the films of Ousmane Sembene and Djibril Diop -- Malini Guha
Redrawing the Map: Denis Villeneuve's "Incendies" in the Context of Quebec National Cinema -- Claudia Kotte
Izza Géneni's Return to her Birthplace: "Retrouver Oulad Moumen" -- Stefanie Van de Peer
Sleeping with Strangers: Queering Home and Identity in "I Don't Want to Sleep Alone" -- Kai-man Chang
VII. Afterword - Hamid Naficy