Cypriot Cinemas
Memory, Conflict, and Identity in the Margins of Europe
PhD Costas Constandinides editor PhD Yiannis Papadakis editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:15th Jan '15
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Explores the work of a new generation of filmmakers striving to engage with the Cyprus' traumatic legacies, like anti-colonial struggles and post-colonial instability.
Cyprus, the idyllic “island of Aphrodite,” is better known as a site of conflict and division between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, rather than for its film production. Constandinides and Papadakis work to rectify this dearth of information by discussing the ouevre of filmmakers engaging with the island's traumatic legacies: anti-colonial struggles, post-colonial instability, interethnic conflict, external interventions and war. Starting with the cinema of the 1960s, when the island became a republic, the collection focuses on the recent decades of filmmakers exploring issues of conflict, memory, identity, nationalism, migration and gender, as well as the work of filmmakers who chose to cooperate across the ethnic divide. Cypriot Cinemas utilizes a methodology that engages all necessary perspectives for an illuminating critical discussion: historical, theoretical and comparative (Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot films in relation to regional film cultures/practices). While the volume develops a discussion based on the reading of the political in Cypriot films, it also looks at other film cultures and debates such as (s)exploitation films and transnational cinema.
By introducing this neglected and complex topic in such a wide-ranging and pluralist volume, the editors [of Cypriot Cinemas] have achieved a very critical balance: their careful thematic and methodological choices have ensured the discussion is both organized and inclusive. One of the main virtues of this work is its ability to conceptualize and contextualize, smoothly guiding the reader through ... a variety of points of view, and a wide range of issues ... [T]his ambitious and surprisingly fresh work makes a significant and very welcome contribution. * FILMICON: Journal of Greek Film Studies *
A pathbreaking analysis of an under-researched film material which illuminates our understanding on some of the darkest moments in the contemporary history of Cyprus. By exploring social, national and historical controversies, the book constitutes a exemplary study for anyone interested in visual representations of identity and conflict. * Achilleas Hadjikyriacou, author of Masculinity and Gender in Greek Cinema: 1949-1967 *
This fascinating anthology is to be commended for its focus on a ‘small’ unknown cinema in which we can see, as if through a magnifying glass, all the reoccurring nightmares of recent European history as well as the struggle to forge a common history, memory and understanding across divided identities and communities. What is so valuable about this volume is that it offers a very manageable case study of the varied roles film can play in shaping historical perception, memory and identity and at its best, opening up spaces of communication and dialogue that have been closed by civil war. * Michael Wayne, Professor of Media and Communications, Brunel University, UK *
ISBN: 9781623561314
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 522g
264 pages