The Challenges of the Cultural Pluralism. Study on the Exotic Other in the New Bulgarian Cinema

Abstract

The monographic, interdisciplinary study of Andronika Martonova ‘Between Migration and Sedentariness: the Exotic Otherness and the New Bulgarian Cinema (To-wards the Culturological Areas of Identity, Difference and the ‘Us’ / ‘Them’) Dis-course’, Institute of Art Studies – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2021, ISBN: 978-619-7619-08-9, 230 pp., comes as a result of a project supported by the National Science Fund, Bulgaria. It focuses on the image of the foreigner in the new Bulgarian cinema during the second decade of the 21st century. Problems of The Inconnu / The Other / The Newcomer are discussed in the context of the challenges of the cultural pluralism for the new Bulgarian filmmaking. For the first time in Bulgarian film studies the problem of the Other is so fully and widely considered. The main principles followed are the ones of the case studies (analyses of significant film productions) and key studies (tracking of important research in the field). Artistic styles, approaches, experiences, positions, achievements and mutual influences are thoroughly and con-textually analyzed. Special attention is put on the Newcomer and the reception of the imported cultural traditions of Africa, Middle East and Far East in recent Bulgarian feature and documentary films (short and full-length). The book is structured in four chapters with subchapters and a conclusion. The publication is illustrated and has an extensive bibliography of more than 200 sources. There is a filmography of 200 movie titles. An index of the names in Cyrillic and Latin has been prepared. It is intended for a wide range of readers.