Film History Research Articles

Romanticizing Caste in Gaadi and Alborada: An Analysis of Two Contemporary Sri Lankan Films

This paper critically assesses Prasanna Vithanage’s Gaadi (2019) and Asoka Handagama’s Alborada (2021) as sites of uncontested reproductions of caste hierarchy, which reestablish hierarchical caste and gender relations, unraveling the nexus between patriarchy and caste. It investigates how Vithanage and Handagama have employed myth and history in film, in a context where Sri Lankan film makers have used historical discourse to validate hegemonic Sinhala nationalist formations. It examines to what extent Vithanage and Handagama succumb to nationalist ideology and thereby legitimize caste, class, and gender inequality, or whether they unravel the violence and coercion inflicted upon women for the maintenance of caste and patriarchy. Drawing upon postcolonial feminism which examines the linkages between caste and gender, this paper contends that despite the films’ move to romanticize caste and reinforce and validate existing caste stereotypes, they nevertheless demonstrate the ways in which women resist, contest and negotiate patriarchal power, however minimal.

Precarity in Portuguese cinema

ABSTRACT Although perhaps not clear for someone unfamiliar with the history and the aesthetics of Portuguese cinema, the title of this paper is polysemic and thus refers to several layers of meaning. Indeed, this research will provide a historical overview and deal with precarity in two different ways that coexist and coincide in Portuguese cinema: the intra-cinematic, i.e. the representation of precarity on screen; and the extra-cinematic, i.e. the material circumstances that have characterised the Portuguese film production milieu. On the one hand, this paper will analyse the history of Portuguese films through the lens of precarity to uncover the different approaches its representation received, from the musical comedies of the 1940s to the peripheral-city dramas of the 1990s. On the other hand, we will provide an account of the evolution of the conditions in which Portuguese cinema subsisted. As this paper will argue these two situations are not entirely dissociated; the material circumstances that have determined the lifecycle of the Portuguese film production are, to a certain degree, related to the versions of precarity addressed. The point this paper proposes by bringing the topic of precarity to the fore intends to add to the literature on Portuguese cinema studies and help frame Portuguese cinema within the subarea of precarity studies.

A Modern Peep at the South Seas: Melville s Presence in some Hollywood Films from 1920s to the 1940s

This paper will argue that alongside Melville’s literary reputation, Hollywood, and its associated industries (advertising, trade and journalistic press), produced a pop-culture image of him. It will analyze two movies, Last of the Pagans (MGM, 1935) and Omoo-Omoo the Shark God (Esla Pictures, 1949), which were publicized as adaptations of Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847) respectively but have on the surface little or nothing to do, thematically or plotwise, with their purported source texts. They can be linked back to the novels through the use of a Melville meme that recreates pre-colonial life in the South Seas, situating viewers within a taxidermic viewing position. Overall, scholars have disregarded these movies as having little to offer Melville studies, but this article will consider them and their many forms of publicity to demonstrate that they can give scholars a glance at Melville’s popular reputation as adventurer and romancer, and it will suggest that, as a national figure, Melville was not the exclusive property of academia but a contested site for the construction of national ideals. The paper will adopt a combination of approaches from film history, fluid text theory, and adaptation studies to analyze Melville’s image across mass media outfits.

Ireland Bros.’ Pan-American Electric Carnival: Canadians’ border-crossing circuits of early cinema

ABSTRACT Early cinema exhibitors George H. and Egerton L. Ireland were better known in Jamaica and Trinidad than in their homeland of Canada. Named the Pan-American Electric Carnival, after a failed bid to show moving pictures at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, between 1900 and 1908 they toured Canada, the United States, across the Caribbean and into South America. Almost absent from Canadian film history, los hermanos Ireland are mentioned in at least eight national and local film histories from across Latin America, and even in a US history. Yet, few of these recognize connections to each other, let alone the brothers’ roots in Canada. I take the Ireland brothers’ peripatetic travels throughout the Western hemisphere as a curious case that is uniquely Canadian. Although Ireland Bros.’ motivations are unknowable, their inter-colonial journeys can only partly be explained by wanderlust, seeking escape from rural Canadian roots. I propose their significance is the provision of modern entertainment that was not simply a conduit of British colonialism nor merely a channel for American imperialism. Instead, I conclude speculatively that the brothers’ circuits of cinema along Pan-American trade routes reflect an ethos of Pan-Americanism emergent at the turn of the twentieth century.

Yeni ‘Film’ veya ‘Sinema’ Tarihi: Sinema Tarihi Yazımında Yeni Gelişen İlkeler, Kuramlar ve Metodolojiler Üzerine Düşünceler

Film as an artefact has long been the subject of study by “film historians,” whether in terms of stylistic authenticity, genre specificity, or “high theory” analysis. Conversely, film history has been written as if films had no audiences (Biltereyst et al, 2012, p. 693). This kind of filmic-textual research tendency lies at the heart of the legacy of film studies discipline. In 1973, Jean Mitry proposed an ideal of film history as simultaneously, a history of its industry, its technologies, its systems of expression (or, more precisely, its systems of signification), and aesthetic structures, all bound together by the forces of the economic, psychosocial and cultural order (Maltby, 2006, p. 80). Humanities-based film studies were first re-conceptualized by the initiatives of International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), during its 1974 and 1978 conferences. Drawing on the methodological stance of the French Annales school’s histoire totale, participants at the 1974 FIAF conference agreed on new historiographical methodologies for all rather than linear national cinema histories. In 1990, American historian Robert Sklar brought forward three types of “cinema historians” in which only second sub-type might be labeled as ‘film historian’ which has been emerged from one of the following disciplines: art history, philosophy, literary studies.

French Film History, 1895–1946 by Richard Neupert (review)

French Film History, 1895–1946 by Richard Neupert (review)

La materia de la propaganda política en el diseño de vestuario de Helena Roque Gameiro: “As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor” (1935), drama de costumbres fílmico

As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor (José Leitão de Barros, 1935) is part of a series of films that linked the rural world to political propaganda for the Portuguese nation idea Construction.Ruralism, as a tool for constructing people identity, has played an important role in the history of cinema, to the point of giving rise, for example, to western. The exaltation of rural life became a vein for expressing, in the form of propaganda, the pillars of blood and land in Nazism and Fascism. In Spain, even a genre, drama rural, arises, which is paralleled by the Portuguese drama de costumbres.In this sense, As Pupilas... is a paradigmatic example of the use of propaganda in the Portuguese Estado Novo, through cinema. This article analyses the propagandistic cinematographic use in this film, focusing on the triangular relationship of themes, style and tone. Emphasis is placed on the costume work carried out by Helena Roque Gameiro, an essential contribution to the mise-en-scène of cinematic ruralism. Therefore, this film would decant the strategic ideological repertoire of the Portuguese Estado Novo.

Patchwork Gothic in Polish Vampire Films

The article explores the emergence of Gothic elements in Polish cinema, specifically in the realm of vampire films. Despite the Polish literary market being saturated with horror, Polish cinema has conspicuously shied away from the genre for decades. However, the popularity of Hollywood Gothic cinema has influenced the once-hermetic Polish film industry, leading to the inclusion of classic Gothic themes, characters, and visuals in Polish vampire films. The article delves into the history of Polish horror cinema, and its relation to Hollywood Gothic cinema, whilst focusing on the vampire aspect of horror. In addition, it highlights the concept of “patchwork Gothic”, which involves blending elements of western and Slavic cultures, aesthetics and characters. By analysing two Polish vampire films, I Like Bats (1985) and The Lullaby (2010), in reference to the notion of patchwork Gothic, the author argues that the combination of disparate cultural influences creates a unique and dynamic interpretation of the Gothic genre in Polish cinema.

Unveiling The Corporeal: The Female Body, Subjectivity and Politics of Visibility in Maryam Touzani’s Film Adam

Throughout the history of cinema, the female body has often been a scopic site of pleasure and subjugation. Female filmmakers have long sought to refute the sexist scrutiny of women onscreen and work for healthier cinematic representations of the female body. This article aims to cast light on the different textual and visual tactics and aesthetics employed by the transnational Moroccan filmmaker Mariam Touzani in her film Adam (2020) to de-romanticize women and deconstruct the conventional cinematic framework where the female body is restrained to adhere to the patriarchal ideologies. The female protagonists Samia and Abla reflect the determination of the filmmaker Mariam Touzani to provide an understanding of the female body as an organism full of life, emotions, and agency, rather than an erotic, static icon. In analysing the film, the article embraces a feminist discourse to highlight the multifaceted dimensions of womanhood and contemplate the complexities surrounding the female body. Adam is a feminist firebrand against the alienating conditions of women and the objectification of the female body.

Biopics and the Reverse Engineering of Populism in Recent Hungarian Cinema

This article explores the recent transformation of Hungarian cinema focusing on the increased number of historical films since 2020. The upsurge in historical themed productions featuring historical or otherwise popular figures could not have happened without either the infrastructural developments triggered by international runaway pro­­ductions or the generous financial support of the National Film Fund, the central funding body of cinema. More recent historical representations have openly adopted populist and illiberal narratives of national pride, patriotism, and exceptionalism. Exploring the new politics of biopics in specific and historical films in general, the article adopts the notion of reverse engineering as both a stylistic practice and a means of recruiting historical figures to fight the political and cultural battles of populism. The article captures the changing framework of representing history with reference to The Whiskey Bandit, Bet on Revenge, Blockade, and Hadik and through analysing closely the construction of their protagonists. Analysing strategies of making historical characters appealing for contemporary audiences, the latter group of films are described as hyper-politicised historical imageries that transfer Christian, nativist, and anti-elitist agendas dominating the right-wing populist echo chamber into the story-worlds of biopics.

Against Illustration

Against Illustration advocates for a methodology of purposeful difficulty in video essaying, in search of new critical entrances into their objects of study. The field of videographic criticism encompasses a broad variety of formal approaches that often differ in their invocation of root objects. Where the dominant ideology of cinema has been perpetuated through common systems of visual codes, and tends to invite an evidentiary approach, videographic criticism has often sought, as a symptom and practice of empowered, post-modern cinephilia, to develop subjective and intimate transformations of objects. In this they enrich, celebrate, and just as often, trouble the themes, iconographies and histories of cinema. Against Illustration suggests for a reconciliation between the purposeful difficulty of experimental cinema and the promise of such an approach in videographic essaying. To do so, the author explores George Steiner’s typology of difficulty in poetry (and in particular its tactical and ontological manifestations), Steiner’s suggestions for creative reading/spectatorship, and his pursuit of a critical entrance into an art steeled against easy perception and ready interpretation.

­Soviet ‘Easterns/Osterns’ of the 1920s: Adventure Films on the Caucasian Frontier of Russia

The article elucidates the issue of representation in Soviet cinema of historical events that transpired during the formation of the Caucasian frontier and the interactions that emerged between the indigenous population and the tsarist troops. The term “Eastern” is analogous to the term “Western” which refers to films about the exploration of the Wild West. This is a useful way of conceptualizing Soviet silent films created on Caucasian material from the 19th–early 20th centuries. This article aims to examine feature films from the 1920s that depict Russia’s advance into the Caucasus. It seeks to identify similarities and differences between these films and the first Soviet “Easterns/Osterns” and “Westerns,” as well as to analyze the influence of ideological attitudes in historical science on the interpretation and depiction of events that took place on the Caucasian frontier. The visual sources utilized in this study include the silent films ‘Abrek Zaur’ (1926), ‘The Law of the Mountains’ (1927), and ‘Zelimkhan’ (1929). Additionally, published materials from the 1920s, including periodicals such as newspapers and magazines, were consulted. The study yielded insights into the stylistic similarities between classic Westerns and the first Soviet Easterns, including the portrayal of protagonists, the use of action and stunts, and the incorporation of jumps. The content of the films is correlated with real historical events, but they reflect the Bolshevik paradigm of history in the study of ethnosocial conflicts in the Caucasus. In films about highlanders, masculine culture is a dominant feature due to gender attitudes and the national cultural identity of the peoples of the Caucasus. Films about mountaineers were instrumental in shaping perceptions of the Caucasus during the early decades of the twentieth century. They illustrate the attributes of traditional culture, daily life, customs of mountain village inhabitants, the characteristics of the landscape, and architectural features. In general, films of an adventurous nature created on Caucasian material are of interest to those with an affinity for classic cinema, particularly the earliest Soviet Eastern films, as well as to researchers seeking to gain insight into significant historical and cultural information. This article is intended for those engaged in the study of the history of Soviet cinema.

Combining and Defining Auteur Film and Film Auteurism

This paper provides a concise overview of the history of film as a dynamic visual medium, analyzing European cinema of the nineteenth century and Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s. It argues that early films cannot be classified as auteur films due to the lack of a systematic auteur theory guiding their creation. Furthermore, it highlights that although Alfred Hitchcock is widely recognized as the first auteur director of Hollywood cinema, his relationship with producers at the time was notably strained. The paper concludes that the concept of auteur film necessitates that the director is entirely responsible for the artistic achievements of the film and consistently reflects their worldview and philosophy of life in their work. Additionally, auteur theory serves as a logical framework for directors to create films and as a methodology for critics to retrospectively analyze a director’s creative style and interpret their films.

금융자본주의 사회의 자본, 프레카리아트의 영화적 재현 연구

Film reflects society and society reflects film. Over the course of 130 years of film history, we have witnessed the evolution of media culture from film to digital to OTT platforms, which have generated extensive discourse in film theory. Despite these significant changes, the essence of film remains unchanged: it is closely intertwined with society, serving as an art form readily accessible to the public. Film actively examines and meticulously represents society on screen, possessing a unique ability to embody imaginary and virtual worlds, while also striving to represent our real world and explore its hidden facets. Recently, there has been a surge in films exploring the economy. However, academic research on these films has been somewhat limited due to the inherent complexity of the subject matter. This paper aims to analyze “Helpless” and “Sorry, we Missed You” with grave concern. These films tackle the issue of ‘financial capitalism and the precariat’, exerting a significant influence on the structure and phenomena of contemporary society. This research delved into the lives of the precariat suffering from debt and rhetorics, which are cunning devices created by financial capitalism. Lastly, this paper proposes that these films can be categorized as “social problem films” that raise awareness about societal issues and spark changes in society. Through this study, this paper aims to demonstrate the profound connection between film(as a cultural medium) and society, thereby affirming the impact of film on society.

Отношение российской молодежи к современному отечественному историческому кино (на примере учащейся молодежи г. Краснодара)

The article analyzes the place of Russian historical cinema in the commemorative practices of Russian youth. It substantiates the relevance of studying the ideas conveyed in films of this genre. Based on the data of sociological surveys, statistics from informational and analytical publications, and video hosting platforms, the representation of the historical genre in the Russian film distribution system and audience evaluations of films released in recent years are investigated. Given that modern youth tend to process information visually, cinema serves as a communicative transmitter and can be one of the primary sources of historical knowledge. Using data from a sociological survey of students in Krasnodar, the study examines the attitudes of the youth audience towards modern historical films. Conclusion dwells upon the fact that the unpopularity of domestic films in this genre among young people is determined by both the quality of the films themselves and the limited scope of their genres. By analyzing the intersection between youth cultural consumption and historical representation in cinema, this study sheds light on the broader implications for how history is taught and perceived by younger generations. It suggests that enhancing the thematic diversity and production quality of historical films could increase their appeal and educational impact.

The place of Ukraine in Mark Donskoi’s The Rainbow

ABSTRACT This article argues that Mark Donskoi’s 1944 film The Rainbow, made at the evacuated Kyiv film studios in Turkmenistan, gains an enormous amount when seen as a Ukrainian film. While the Odesa-born Donskoi is usually associated with his work at the Gor’kii film studios in Moscow, The Rainbow is one of a number of films he made at Kyiv studios, and one that is particularly productive when seen in the light of its ambiguous relation to Ukraine. On the one hand, Donskoi’s film is indicative of what Yuri Shevchuk has called ‘imperial appropriation’ and treats Ukrainian linguistic and cultural identity as a subset of Russian; on the other hand, through the evocation of the location of Ukraine, the casting and performance of celebrated Ukrainian actor Nataliia Uzhvii, the homage to the poetics of Oleksandr Dovzhenko, and the poignant if inadvertent relevance of the subtextual commentary about occupation and resistance, Donskoi created a film that enriches Ukrainian film history, and is at the same time enriched by being seen in this context.

Film Programming in the ussr: A Case Study of Moscow Cinemas (1946–1955)

Abstract This article presents a database on film programming in Moscow cinemas between 1946 and 1955. It outlines the place of this research at the intersection of new cinema history and academic debates on film distribution in the field of Soviet history. The article describes the data collection, the coding to present the data, and the structure of the database, which consists of the three datasets on Moscow film programming (1946–1955), Moscow cinemas (1946–1955), and the 1952 film calendar. Concluding remarks summarize the knowledge obtained from the database and introduce the Soviet case into the international context of digital data collections for historical cinema studies.

Expressions of a backlash: Challenging the story of success in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s

Abstract In this article, we ask if there was a backlash against film feminism in Norway in the 1980s. In Norwegian film history, this decade is known as “the helicopter period” and is associated with a turn towards commercial genre film and classical dramaturgy. This has usually been narrated as a success story for Norwegian cinema. It is, however, also a decade connected to a loss of position for the women directors who had gained a footing in Norwegian cinema in the 1970s. We thus question the idea of progress associated with this decade in film history and propose avenues of investigation. We explore the loss of position of female directors by looking at film reception and film criticism. We further present and discuss a numerical breakdown of women directors and female lead characters in the 1980s and 1990s and point to thematic readings of the on-screen portrayal of women characters in this time span. We find evidence of aggression towards women and a disappearance of women’s film and argue that this points to an anti-feminist pushback in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s.

ASTM International Subcommittee E07.02 on Reference Radiological Images: A brief history and update of recent work

Radiographic interpretation is a combination of art and science. The radiograph interpreter must be well versed in x-ray physics, conditions of the exposure, characteristics of the source and image detector, the design of the part, its specifications, and potential flaws. But there is also an art to interpretation that is gained over years of looking at many radiographs taken in many different conditions. As an aid to interpretation, reference radiographs have been developed and well accepted as means of identifying different types of indications and grading those indications for accept/reject decisions. Industrial radiography began in 1922 under the direction of HH Lester at the US Army Watertown Arsenal. The first radiography standards and reference radiographs appeared in the 1930s. ASTM International Committee E07 on Nondestructive Testing was formed out of Committee E04 on Metallography X-ray Methods subcommittee in 1938 when ASTM was the American Society for Testing Materials. An ASTM Subcommittee on Reference Radiographs was formed in 1950 and immediately adopted some of these first reference films as consensus standards. Since those first reference radiograph standards ASTM has developed both film and digital radiograph standards for 11 types of castings and 3 types of welds, several radiographic parameter demonstration films, a standard film for measuring film digitization performance, and films for evaluating visual acuity of radiograph interpreters. This paper discusses the history of reference films and the recent development of digital reference images, film digitizer performance film, and the visual acuity standard. The just-approved ASTM E3168 Standard Practice for Determining Low-Contrast Visual Acuity of Radiographic Interpreters is the first standard containing actual radiographic images of varying sharpness, contrast, and noise that can be used to evaluate interpreters and/or interpretation environments. This paper documents the initial statistical study performed on the visual acuity standard films.

Losing the West, Finding Western Worlds

Abstract “Losing the West, Finding Western Worlds” explores how recent critical work in Western American studies breaks apart the region’s foundational myths and invites readers and reviewers to revise understandings of this popular, enduring, and protean genre. Reflecting on four studies that interrogate Western American fiction, film, and comic books (two monographs by British scholars Mark Asquith and Neil Campbell; a study of the Black Western by film historian Mia Mask; and a collection of essays edited by Christopher Conway and Antoinette Sol on varieties of comic book westerns produced around the world), the essay considers how this diverse cohort of scholars pursues a common imperative to unlearn “the West” and sets new directions for literary and cultural studies of the region. Through rereadings of the work of writers and actors who fracture and reassemble the heroic settler narrative from the perspective of outsiders, these critics contend, the West can emerge as a place whose stories offer more complete understandings of the past, whose heroes illuminate the political challenges of the present, and whose writers provide the right words for imagining a better future.