Within cinema studies there has emerged a significant body of scholarship on the idea of 'National Cinema' but there has been a tendency to focus on the major national cinemas. Less developed within this field is the analysis of what we might term minor or small national cinemas, despite the increasing significance of these small entities with the international domain of moving image production, distribution and consumption. The Cinema of Small Nations is the first major analysis of small national cinemas, comprising twelve case studies of small national--and sub national--cinemas from around the world, including Ireland, Denmark, Iceland, Scotland, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Written by an array of distinguished and emerging scholars, each of the case studies provides a detailed analysis of the particular cinema in question, with an emphasis on the last decade, considering both institutional and textual issues relevant to the national dimension of each cinema. While each chapter contains an in-depth analysis of the particular cinema in question, the book as a whole provides the basis for a broader and more properly comparative understanding of small or minor national cinemas, particularly with regard to structural constraints and possibilities, the impact of globalization and internationalisation, and the role played by economic and cultural factors in small-nation contexts.

Investigates the relationship between globalization and the New Danish Cinema.

For three decades, state-sponsored short filmmaking educated Danish citizens, promoted Denmark to the world, and shaped the careers of renowned directors like Carl Th. Dreyer. The first book-length study in English of a national corpus of state-sponsored informational film, this book traces how Danish shorts on topics including social welfare, industry, art and architecture were commissioned, funded, produced and reviewed from the inter-war period to the 1960s. Examining the life cycle of a representative selection of films, and discussing their preservation and mediation in the digital age, this book presents a detailed case study of how informational cinema is shaped by, and indeed shapes, its cultural, political and technological contexts.

Small nations are growing in prominence. In 1950, there were 22 sovereign European states with a population below 18 million. Today there are 36 – not to mention many more stateless nations. What are the particular characteristics of the media in small nations? What challenges do broadcasters and other media institutions in these countries face, how can these be overcome, and are there advantages to operating in a small national context? How are small nations represented on screen, and how do audiences in small nations engage with the media? Bringing together perspectives from across Europe, including case-studies on Catalonia, the Basque Country, Wales, Scotland, Iceland, Portugal, Slovenia and Macedonia, this collection answers these questions. At the same time, it provides readers with insights into broader issues of media policy, representation, national identity, transnationalism, audience reception and media research methods. With European media institutions and practitioners coming to terms with the changes brought about by digitisation and globalisation against a backdrop of financial uncertainty, this collection offers a timely contribution to debates about the media in Europe. Contributors include: Steve Blandford, John Newbigin, Sally Broughton Micova, Josep Àngel Guimerà, Ana Fernández Viso, Agnes Schindler, Dilys Jones, Trish Reid, Jacqui Cochrane, Anabela de Sousa Lopes and Merris Griffiths.

Nordic Genre Film offers a transnational approach to studying contemporary genre production in Nordic cinema.

Small Cinemas in Global Markets addresses aspects such as identity, revisiting the past, internationalized genres, new forms of experimental cinema, markets and production, as well as technological developments of alternative small screens that open new perspectives into small cinema possibilities. Small and big markets for small industries reveal an unimagined diversification of the cultural product and consequently the need to analyze the impact at local, regional, and global levels. Much needed to continue and expand the existing scholarship in the field, this volume is based on research by authors who approach their subject from Western theoretical perspectives with a professional (mostly native) knowledge of the language, cultural realities, and film industry practices. It covers aspects from fifteen different countries, including Bolivia, Brazil, China (Hong Kong), Croatia, East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda), Greece, Indonesia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Morocco, and the United States. Since both film and documentary distribution from certain areas of the globe on international markets remains problematic, it is important for the academic field to discuss and circulate them as much as possible, and to create the basis for further exploration. Documenting and reflecting on the role, state, and reception of the film industry provides scholarly understanding to the industry’s wide range of seemingly chaotic technological transformations.

This is the first title in a new series of volumes examining different dimensions of the media and culture in small nations. Whether at a local, national or international level, radio has played and continues to play a key role in nurturing or denying – even destroying – people’s sense of ‘belonging’ to a particular community, whether it be defined in terms of place, ethnicity, language or patterns of consumption. Typically, the radio has been used for purposes of propaganda and as a means of forging national identity both at home and also further afield in the case of colonial exploits. Drawing on examples of four models of, the chapters in this volume will provide an historical and contemporary overview of radio in a number of small nations. The authors propose a stimulating discussion on the role radio has played in a variety of nation contexts worldwide.

When The Silence was released in 1963, Bergman's stature allowed the film's depiction of sexuality to challenge the boundaries of the censorship boards in Sweden and the U.S. Yet, Swedish film critic Maaret Koskinen - one of the first scholars given access to Bergman's private papers - found his notebooks revealed his tendency to self-censorship, as well as the difficulties he experienced in writing for the medium of moving images. She draws a picture of Berman that reveals his attempts to make his work relevant to a new generation of filmgoers.

This book presents an expert analysis of the transnational aspects of Finnish cinema throughout its history. As a small nation cinema, Finnish film culture has, even at its most nationalistic, always been attached to developments in other film producing nations in terms of production and distribution as well as genres and aesthetics. Recent developments in film theory offer exciting new approaches and methodologies for the study of transnational phenomena in the field of film culture, both past and present. The authors employ a wide range of cutting edge methodologies in order to address the major issues involved in transnational approaches to film culture. Until recently, much of this research has focused on globalization and questions related to diasporic cinema, while transnational issues related to small nation film cultures have been marginalized. This study focuses on how small nation cinemas have faced the dilemma of contributing to the construction and maintenance of national culture and identity, while responding to audience tastes largely shaped by foreign cinemas. With Finland’s intriguing political placement between East and West, along with the high portion of film history preserved in Finnish archives, this thoroughly contextualized multidisciplinary analysis of Finnish film history serves as an illuminating case study of the transnational aspects of small nation cinemas.

The first comprehensive volume of original essays on Australian screen culture in the twenty-first century. A Companion to Australian Cinema is an anthology of original essays by new and established authors on the contemporary state and future directions of a well-established national cinema. A timely intervention that challenges and expands the idea of cinema, this book brings into sharp focus those facets of Australian cinema that have endured, evolved and emerged in the twenty-first century. The essays address six thematically-organized propositions – that Australian cinema is an Indigenous screen culture, an international cinema, a minor transnational imaginary, an enduring auteur-genre-landscape tradition, a televisual industry and a multiplatform ecology. Offering fresh critical perspectives and extending previous scholarship, case studies range from The Lego Movie, Mad Max, and Australian stars in Hollywood, to transnational co-productions, YouTube channels, transmedia and nature-cam documentaries. New research on trends – such as the convergence of television and film, digital transformations of screen production and the shifting roles of women on and off-screen – highlight how established precedents have been influenced by new realities beyond both cinema and the national. Written in an accessible style that does not require knowledge of cinema studies or Australian studies Presents original research on Australian actors, such as Cate Blanchett and Chris Hemsworth, their training, branding, and path from Australia to Hollywood Explores the films and filmmakers of the Blak Wave and their challenge to Australian settler-colonial history and white identity Expands the critical definition of cinema to include YouTube channels, transmedia documentaries, multiplatform changescapes and cinematic remix Introduces readers to founding texts in Australian screen studies A Companion to Australian Cinema is an ideal introductory text for teachers and students in areas including film and media studies, cultural and gender studies, and Australian history and politics, as well as a valuable resource for educators and other professionals in the humanities and creative arts.