The movie The Wedding Banquet directed by Ang Lee has received a lot of attention and love since its first debut in Germany in 1993. The film has won many blockbuster awards such as the Golden Bear Award at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival and the 30th Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards. These top awards have established the status of this film and its director Ang Lee in the international film industry, so it has also received different evaluations of the film from all walks of life. This article adopts the method of close reading of the text, through audio-visual language and plot interpretation, analyzes the female characters Gu Weiwei, Gao WeiTong's mother and the female-like character Simon in The Wedding Banquet, exploring the limitations of director Ang Lee's female character creation in this film, and analyzes the three aspects of the dwarfing of the narrative of the female image, the compromise of the female will, and the structural compression of the female space, and finally concludes that due to the influence of traditional oriental values and the director's own gender limitations, in The Wedding Banquet, director Ang Lee have great limitations in the female characters creation.

This study delves into the transformative influence of social media platforms on film marketing and distribution, with a particular focus on Funke Akindele's Nollywood film, ‘Everybody Loves Jenifa’. It examines the strategic utilisation of platforms like TikTok to promote films, analysing the marketing tactics employed and their subsequent impact on audience engagement and the commercial success of the film. Drawing upon established media and marketing theories, including the Uses and Gratifications, this research develops a comprehensive framework for understanding digital promotion within the dynamic Nollywood industry. The analysis assesses the effectiveness of various social media strategies in reaching target audiences, increasing film visibility, and driving conversion rates. Findings indicate that social media marketing significantly shapes audience perceptions and cultivates substantial interest in Nollywood films. This study contributes to the existing academic literature by highlighting how digital platforms profoundly influence film marketing outcomes within the Nigerian film industry. It offers actionable insights for filmmakers and marketers seeking to optimise their social media campaigns for maximum outreach and audience interaction. Ultimately, this research underscores the critical importance of leveraging social media in contemporary film marketing and provides a structured approach for evaluating its efficacy within the Nollywood context, guiding strategic decisions for industry practitioners aiming to enhance film promotion through digital channels.

Motion Picture Paradise: A History of Florida's Film and Television Industry

ABSTRACT Contemporary scholarship suggests that global feminist movements striving to end violence against women and girls have spurred an improvement in its media representations. Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry, serves as a notable example of how local filmmakers are incorporating global feminist principles to challenge entrenched stereotypes and portray women’s empowerment. However, these changes are insufficiently explored in scholarship. This study examines how select Nigerian films portray violence against women and girls (VAWG) and seek to challenge societal attitudes towards it with empowering narratives. Through textual analysis of three films – Citation (2020), Dry (2014) and Stories by Her (2021), five recurrent themes were identified: institutional commitment to justice for victims/survivors, acceptable and unacceptable approaches to justice, voicelessness versus repossession of voice, and societal apathy versus complicity. The study highlights the potential of films for effective storytelling and social change.

In this article, based on the evidence brought by TRAFFIC - Tracing American and Foreign Funds in Italian Cinema (1945-1962), a research project we were involved in the last few years and focused on the Italian case, we advance a set of methodological and operational hypotheses for the study of international relations in post-war cinema, developed in dialogue with the contributions collected in this issue. Our central claim is that a multipolar model of productive, distributive, and cultural relations was in place, in the years surrounding the Second World War, with timelines and durations that varied across geographical contexts and in relation to the specific challenges faced by different film industries. This model places under strain a fixed conception of centre-periphery relations, already questioned in transnational approaches to European cinema, as well as a monolithic understanding of the cultural and industrial dominance of American cinema, which nevertheless remained the key reference point in the global system.After having summarized the scientific discussion on transnational cinemas to determine which elements can be retained and what new tools are needed to outline and study what we consider a multipolar system, in the following section we delve into the Italian case, focusing particularly on the trade association ANICA. During the post-war period, ANICA was structured as an interface between different systems, managing current practices such as export and co-production instructions and film credit guarantees, as well as strategic actions such as defining agreements and conducting periodic revisions. Two specific examples relating to the definition of exchange and co-production agreements with the film industries of Mexico and Yugoslavia illustrate ANICA’s concrete functioning in relation to other national and foreign entities, including public and private stakeholders. Finally, we reflect on the concept of borders as a key element in the relationship between film systems and infrastructures.

ABSTRACT This paper explores how Chloé Zhao employs adaptation strategies to construct her transnational identity in her film Nomadland (2020). Through two significant adaptations, Zhao replaces the real protagonist, Linda May, in the original with the fictional middle-aged white woman, Fern. This intervention allows Zhao to project her authorship shaped by mobility, outsiderhood, and personal cinematic aesthetics into an easily understood role from an American left-wing liberal perspective. Through Fern’s persistent loneliness and repeated farewells, Zhao maintains low political visibility, transforming the instability of American society into a personalized, “safe” narrative space. Meanwhile, the film’s poetic reconstruction of the vans and the American West transforms spacesshaped by colonial history, labor exploitation and the instability of late capitalism, into heterotopias, facilitating personal healing and identity. Through these strategies, Zhao reconstructs these spaces as an aesthetic sanctuarywhere she can reconcile her outsider identity. This aestheticization constitutes a creative mode of low political visibility, allowing Zhao to participate in American mainstream film industry without directly confronting ideological tensions. Together, these adaptive strategies collectively reveal how Zhao uses fiction and landscape to negotiate transnational identity through a personalized and politically cautious cinematic languages.

ABSTRACT This article recognises the notable absence of queerness in narrative cinema made in Colombia, while surveying how feature films have offered types of LGBTIQ+ representations that have been entangled with debatable, inconsistent or, more recently, with exceptional discourses. Informed by multidisciplinary approaches from queer/ cuir studies, film studies and decolonial thought, this text seeks to provide the readership with a useful state of affairs as of today on how queerness is addressed through narrative cinema in Colombia, and to continually problematise and rethink what ‘queer’ means within the Colombian and Latin American contexts. By tracing the available corpus, the article exposes what we have chosen to name ‘queer/ cuir moments,’ acknowledging there is still much to be done within the film industry to be able to suggest a robust queer/cuir strand. Nonetheless, the article also acknowledges how those moments have preceded a more recent era of self‐aware filmmakers that put forward LGBTIQ+ questions on the big screen in the Colombian context. The 21st‐century initiatives the article considers have paved the way for ‘que(e)rencias’—political acts of affection, enunciation and intervention—where queerness seemingly activates an unexplored prism via narrative films made in Colombia.

Unreal Engine, a real-time rendering platform developed by Epic Games, has expanded beyond gaming and is used in architecture, automotive design, and the movie industry. Due to its ability to generate high-fidelity visualizations, simulate real-world interactions, and support virtual prototyping, it also has the potential to be a valuable tool for industrial designers. This study investigates its application in product design through a self-reflective practice-based approach. As the sole participant, the author conducted iterative design experiments comparing conventional methods (sketching, CAD modeling, physical mock-ups) with Unreal Engine–based workflows in the design of handheld electronic gaming devices. The author’s reflections documented workflow efficiency, visualization quality, cost reduction, and learning experience. Findings suggest that Unreal Engine significantly improves iteration speed, offers highly realistic visualizations, reduces material costs by limiting the need for physical prototypes, and enhances design decision-making. The study demonstrates that Unreal Engine can transform industrial design practice by streamlining workflows, promoting sustainability, and fostering new competencies in digital prototyping.

With the rapid advancement of digital technology and the dynamic growth of the cultural consumption market, film box office prediction has become an increasingly important research topic in both academic and industrial circles. Accurate box office forecasting not only helps in optimizing marketing strategies and investment decisions but also supports the sustainable development of the entire film industry. Despite recent improvements in prediction models incorporating machine learning and big data analytics, several challenges remain, such as accounting for subjective factors like audience preferences, social media influence, unexpected external events, and the inherent uncertainty of creative products. These limitations hinder further progress in forecasting precision and restrict the practical value of existing models. Therefore, this paper aims to identify and analyze key issues in current box office prediction research, offering theoretical insights and methodological recommendations to enhance the accuracy and applicability of future predictions. The findings are expected to provide valuable guidance for stakeholders in the Chinese film industry and contribute to its healthy and prosperous evolution.

Polyolefin elastomers (POEs) are widely used in automotive, photovoltaic film, and home appliance industries. Compared to the classic copolymerization of ethylene and α-olefin (mainly 1-butene and 1-octene), branched polyethylene (PE) bearing similar elasticity as that of the POE is getting more attention recently. A number of cationic nickel catalyst systems were established, and good to excellent elasticity was achieved. In this work, we developed a series of anilinotropone nickel complexes bearing a hemilabile ethereal group and efficiently polymerized ethylene to produce branched PE. Tensile property study revealed that PE synthesized from the Ni2 (PENi2) catalyst displayed a stress-at-break value of 7.7 MPa and a strain-at-break value of 1870%. Interestingly, the strain recovery (SR) of PENi2 (79%) is higher than that of POEs 8150 (67%) and 7447 (67%). Quantitative 13C NMR studies suggest that PENi2 has mainly a methyl branch and a higher total branching density (88/1000) than POEs 8150 (46/1000) and 7447 (76/1000).

In world linguistics, terms have attracted the attention of linguists as an internal mechanism that demonstrates the unique capabilities of each language and, undoubtedly, serves to enrich its vocabulary. Terminology is an important factor in the development of a language. In this direction, especially in the film industry, the study of the issue of production terminology, which is considered a productive link, helps to clarify issues such as the relationship between production and terminology, the contribution of terminology to language development, and the level of language development. In particular, the production terms of a particular country are an important source for studying the changes that have occurred in the lexical-semantic and grammatical structure of the formation of the national language at the stages of the language development of this people.

Whilst film as an artform is over 100 years old, scholarly analysis of many of the constitutional parts—especially makeup and hair—have been overlooked by film historians and scholars. This article aims to give an overview of some of the pioneers of the development and application of makeup for film, exploring its narrative purpose in a series of case studies. It focuses on makeup for the moving image, which must communicate character in profoundly subtler ways than stage makeup. In research and discussion around makeup for the moving image, the understanding and the art of the film close-up is key to its analysis. As the following citations indicate, existing information on film makeup practice comes from the biographies and autobiographies of actors, makeup artists and the histories of particular films and genres. Pioneering individuals such as Max Factor have received biographical works and there are resources online exploring theater makeup. The 1987 LACMA exhibition and accompanying catalog Hollywood and History: Costume Design in Film explored costume, hair and makeup across eighty years of Hollywood filmmaking and was an important moment in curatorial analysis of the impact of Hollywood on popular impressions of the past which are “elements from past styles but combine them with aspects of contemporary fashion” (Meader | 1987, 10). This subject area is in its infancy and has potential to be developed further; this article aims to offer an introductory summary of research to date, examining how makeup interacts with cinematography: the fusion of lighting and actor. It also supports current Screen and Star Studies in Film and Television research arenas are exploring the tension between the celebration of “beauty” and representations of “character” that film illustrates and how makeup serves these two very different demands. As this article will argue, the art of makeup is an invisible art, it only becomes visible when there is need to develop a character’s narrative arc. The film industry has also been slow to diversify its narratives, this is also slowly changing, and discussion of the industries underlying racism of film production is coming to the surface. Future discussion and research on this and the above points are developing.

The development of social media has driven changes in promotional strategies in the film industry, particularly through the use of short video content such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Short video content is considered capable of attracting audience attention, conveying information concisely, and encouraging interaction and digital conversation among users. In the context of Generation Z, electronic word of mouth (e-WoM) is an important factor that influences consumer confidence and decisions before purchasing movie tickets. This study aims to analyze the influence of short promotional video content on electronic word of mouth and movie ticket purchasing decisions, as well as to examine the role of e-WoM as a mediating variable. The study uses a quantitative approach with a causal design. Data were collected through an online questionnaire survey distributed to Generation Z who had seen short promotional video content and had watched movies in theaters. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling with a total of 90 respondents. The research instrument used a five-point Likert scale without neutral options. Data analysis was performed using linear regression analysis and mediation tests with the help of SPSS software.This study is expected to contribute academically to the development of digital consumer behavior studies, particularly regarding the role of short video content and electronic word of mouth in influencing movie ticket purchasing decisions. In addition, the results of this study are expected to provide practical considerations for film industry players in designing social media-based promotional strategies.

China’s film industry policies play a pivotal role in governing production, distribution and exhibition, shaping the industry’s development. This study empirically analyses 32 national film policies (2001–20) to trace China’s strategic shift towards a state-controlled socialist cultural market – a framework designed to counterbalance the cultural impact of China’s World Trade Organization (WTO) accession in 2001. By introducing the concept of the socialist cultural market, this article offers a novel analytical framework for understanding the evolution of China’s film policy and industry dynamics. The findings demonstrate that the government has institutionalized this model, enforcing ideological conformity through censorship, licensing and screening controls to prioritize ‘social effects’. Meanwhile, to enhance economic returns and global competitiveness, authorities have selectively liberalized production and co-exhibition regulations. This dual approach, however, generates a fundamental tension between ideological control and cultural exportation, which raises a concern on the global reception of its film industry. As of now, new policy documents have yet to be introduced to tackle this institutional tension.

In recent years, with the popularity of numerous TV series and films, audiences have moved beyond mere viewership and stardom following to engaging in on-site sightseeing and check-ins at actual filming locations. Concurrently, regional tourism strategies have increasingly emphasized the marketing of these locations, further attracting fans and viewers for tourism and consumption. Against the backdrop of the national strategy for the integration of culture and tourism, the film and television industry serves as a powerful cultural medium that can attract attention and evoke strong emotions, plays a significant empowering role in the cultural tourism sector. This paper attempts to outline the internal mechanisms of this empowerment, analyze current existing problems, and propose paths for high-quality development from the perspectives of mechanism innovation, IP operation, and scene construction.

The challenges of user viewing decision-making in the global film industry and the insufficient accuracy of existing rating prediction models are addressed in this study. The investigation uses the MovieLens 32M dataset to explore movie rating prediction. Initially, stratified sampling was conducted on the dataset utilising Python scripts. Subsequent to the amalgamation of data, the implementation of a differentiated approach to the management of missing values, the purification of outliers, and the transformation of temporal features, the dataset was segmented into training and test sets at an 8:2 ratio, whilst ensuring the maintenance of consistent rating distributions. Consequently, a Random Forest regression model was constructed. GridSearchCV was employed to optimize hyperparameters such as the number of trees and maximum depth. The final model demonstrated excellent performance on the test set, with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.8776, a mean squared error (MSE) of 0.1399, and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.1697. This approach demonstrated a substantial improvement in performance when compared to established benchmark models such as linear regression and support vector machines. It effectively captured the nonlinear relationships present in the rating data, thus showcasing its ability to handle complex data structures. Feature importance analysis revealed that the user's average historical rating (importance score 0.7921) and the movie's average historical rating (0.0680) are the core factors influencing rating predictions, while the rating standard deviation and user ID have weaker impacts. The findings of this research provide quantitative evidence for the optimisation of scheduling strategies for film producers, the enhancement of personalised recommendation systems, and the evaluation of film value on content platforms.

The key issue in this study is the increasing dependence of Generation Z on TikTok as a primary source of entertainment, potentially replacing conventional film promotional media. Therefore, without adequate understanding, the local film industry risks failing to capitalize on TikTok's popularity strategically and sustainably. This topic is relevant, as local films face challenges in attracting young audiences. This study employed employed an exploratory quantitative approach with a sample of 30 active Generation Z TikTok users aged 19-25 years. Data were collected using a questionnaire with validity and reliability tests, classical assumption tests, and simple linear regression analysis. The results showed that film popularity on TikTok had a positive and significant influence on adolescents' viewing interest (0.647; p < 0,001) with an R² of 0.538, indicating that 53.8% of the variation in viewing interest was explained by popular films. The results show a relationship between the intensity of user interaction with film content on TikTok and the tendency to be interested in watching local films, with the involvement of film producers maximizing social media as an interactive promotional tool that can expand audience reach and increase awareness of local films. In this study, the popularity of romantic films was measured based on the level of exposure (frequency of watching film content) and engagement (interactions in the form of likes, comments, shares, and use of hashtags). The uniqueness of this study lies in its positioning of TikTok as an algorithmic and participatory communication space that shapes Generation Z's perceptions of local films.

Many business settings involve fluid teams, where team members come together to work on a project, after which the team is disbanded. It is well-known that coordination can be challenging and affect the performance outcomes of fluid teams. The literature has studied how several facets of experience can facilitate learning and improve outcomes for fluid teams. However, the role of experience with success and failure and its effect on improving outcomes for fluid teams has remained unexplored. In this study, we use data from the motion picture industry to examine how the experience with success and failure resident within key members of a movie production team affects profitability. Our analysis of the data for 2,091 movies released in the United States between 1999 and 2018 reveals that a movie’s profitability depends on the production team’s history with success and failure. Additionally, we find that teams with a history of success result in movies with higher profits, whereas teams with a history of failure result in movies with lower profits. We also find that increased relative dispersion in the team’s experience does not affect the movie’s profitability. Further analysis of the composition of movie teams indicates that financial performance can be significantly impacted when movie teams are predominantly composed of members with a history of success or failure. We contribute by illustrating a new measure of team experience relevant for fluid teams and by providing insights on how to compose teams based on members’ experience with success and failure. This paper was accepted by Elena Katok, operations management. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.03756 .

ABSTRACT This study questions the visual and narrative construction of female bodies and sexual agency in Adebayo Tijani’s Ijakumo: The Born Again Stripper (2022), situating its analysis within the persistent sexist traditions of Nigerian cinema. Nollywood is the world’s second-largest film industry and a dominant cultural institution in Africa. The industry has historically reproduced patriarchal ideologies that objectify women and regulate female sexuality under the gaze of male desire and moral authority. The film’s representation of women therefore becomes a critical site for examining how female agency can emerge within, and against, such cinematic and social structures. The research problem arises from this contradiction: how does Ijakumo both expose and subvert the gendered visual economies that have long defined Nollywood’s narrative culture? Drawing on feminist film theory and postcolonial gender theory, the paper argues that the film reconfigures traditional images of the submissive and moralised woman by staging complex female subjectivities that challenge male-centred power. Through Asabi’s mystical resistance, Sharon’s performative sensuality, and Mary’s spiritual purity, Ijakumo dramatizes the contested terrain between female empowerment and patriarchal control. The analysis employs textual and visual-semiotic interpretation informed by post-structuralist understandings of cinematic meaning, revealing how the film transforms the body from an object of desire into a site of political and spiritual defiance. The study concludes that Ijakumo not only unsettles Nollywood’s gendered gaze but also gestures towards a feminist re-imagination of African screen culture.

This study offers a concise synthesis of female filmmaking in the Republic of Moldova during the post-independence period (1991–2025), analyzing the main thematic and stylistic directions addressed by contemporary female filmmakers. The study aims to identify the authors who contribute to shaping the national cinematographic discourse, to define the thematic dimensions explored in their works, and to position these creations within the context of a film industry undergoing a slow process of regeneration. We will identify the thematic similarities and differences between the cinematographic works produced by female filmmakers and how they integrate into the local and international landscape. Although national cinematography continues to face significant institutional and financial challenges, female voices have gradually succeeded in claiming visibility within the local and international cultural space. The analysis is based on a qualitative approach, focused on the study of the filmography of women directors originating from the Republic of Moldova, with the objective of highlighting the specificities of female artistic expression and the social impact of these works. The research seeks to contribute to the development of a theoretical and analytical framework necessary for understanding the role of women filmmakers in contemporary Moldovan cinema.