Bruce Bennett – författare

Refugee Cinema studies the representation of refugees and asylum seekers in cinema from the early 20th century through to the present. It examines a wide variety of material from around the world, from feature films and documentaries, through to newsreels, public information films, animations, experimental cinema and gallery installations. It analyzes the varied approaches used by filmmakers as they attempt to tell refugees' stories. Examining the 'fugitive aesthetics' of refugee cinema, it asks how these films convey the experience of forced displacement and how they might enable viewers to understand the circumstances that force people to flee their homes, leaving behind everything that is familiar. It also considers how successful such cinematic stories can be at revealing the diverse humanity that lies behind the reductive, stereotypical figure of the 'refugee' that dominates political and media discourse. As well as films about refugees that document the experiences of displacement, journeying, detention, harassment, of social integration or marginalization, and returning home, Refugee Cinema also discusses documentaries made with refugees, a collaborative, participatory approach to filmmaking that potentially grants refugees greater agency over their own stories. Alongside these examples, the book examines a number of films made by refugees. This category of films offers quite different perspectives on refugee experience and brings into focus the principal question addressed by Refugee Cinema: to what extent can cinema represent the voices, experiences, and circumstances of refugees?

This comprehensive study of prolific British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom explores the thematic, stylistic, and intellectual consistencies running through his eclectic and controversial body of work. This volume undertakes a close analysis of a TV series directed by Winterbottom and sixteen of his films ranging from television dramas to transnational co-productions featuring Hollywood stars, and from documentaries to costume films. The critique is centered on Winterbottom's collaborative working practices, political and cultural contexts, and critical reception. Arguing that his work delineates a 'cinema of borders', this study examines Winterbottom's treatment of sexuality, class, ethnicity, and national and international politics, as well as his quest to adequately narrate inequality, injustice, and violence.

Welcome to Alphabet City, Manhattan's most crime-ridden neighbourhood with murder, rape and violence hitting record levels the streets, fuelled by a drug problem that's got the city by the throat. It was into this vision of hell that Mike Codella and his partner Gio stepped in 1988, two plainclothes narcs expected just to pull a few street arrests to keep statistics looking good, and try to get out alive. But Mike had his eyes on something bigger. Davey Blue Eyes: local kingpin, druglord and stone cold murderer. Just one drawback - no one even knew what he looked like. Fascinating, brutal and told with a furious, even poetic energy, Alphaville stands shoulder to shoulder with other modern true crime classics such as Serpico, The French Connection, Wiseguy, or David Simon's Homicide.'Nerve-shreddingly real. Addictive, brilliant and compelling' R.J. Ellory, bestselling author of A Simple Act of Violence

This collection of essays offers a pioneering analysis of the political and conceptual complexities of teaching transnational cinema in university classrooms around the world. In their exploration of a wide range of films from different national and regional contexts, contributors reflect on the practical and pedagogical challenges of teaching about immigrant identities, transnational encounters, foreignness, cosmopolitanism and citizenship, terrorism, border politics, legality and race. Probing the value of cinema in interdisciplinary academic study and the changing strategies and philosophies of teaching in the university, this volume positions itself at the cutting edge of transnational film studies.

This collection of essays offers a pioneering analysis of the political and conceptual complexities of teaching transnational cinema in university classrooms around the world. In their exploration of a wide range of films from different national and regional contexts, contributors reflect on the practical and pedagogical challenges of teaching about immigrant identities, transnational encounters, foreignness, cosmopolitanism and citizenship, terrorism, border politics, legality and race. Probing the value of cinema in interdisciplinary academic study and the changing strategies and philosophies of teaching in the university, this volume positions itself at the cutting edge of transnational film studies.

This comprehensive study of prolific British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom explores the thematic, stylistic, and intellectual consistencies running through his eclectic and controversial body of work. This volume undertakes a close analysis of a TV series directed by Winterbottom and sixteen of his films ranging from television dramas to transnational co-productions featuring Hollywood stars, and from documentaries to costume films. The critique is centered on Winterbottom's collaborative working practices, political and cultural contexts, and critical reception. Arguing that his work delineates a 'cinema of borders', this study examines Winterbottom's treatment of sexuality, class, ethnicity, and national and international politics, as well as his quest to adequately narrate inequality, injustice, and violence.