Daniela Berghahn – författare

This book is a representative history of East German film culture from 1946 to the present, examining both DEFA's celebrated classics and the most acclaimed post-unification feature films by East German directors.'Hollywood behind the wall' demonstrates that East German cinema occupies an ambivalent position between German national cinema on the one hand and East European and Soviet cinema on the other. It includes a wide-ranging exploration of post-unification cinema from East Germany, including cult films such as 'Sun Alley' and 'Goodbye, Lenin!' and provides contextualised, close readings of twenty significant films, referencing one hundred and ninety East German films in total, along with numerous West German and East European classics.The book's scope and its critical consideration of archival materials and scholarly literature make it an authoritative compendium for students and scholars of film studies, German studies and modern European history.

In the age of globalisation, diasporic and other types of transnational family are increasingly represented across the film spectrum in works such as Bend It Like Beckham, The Namesake, Boys 'n the Hood, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Brave Heart Will Take the Bride) and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. While there is a significant body of scholarship on the representation of the family in Hollywood cinema, an analysis of the depiction of the diasporic family in cinema from a comparative transnational angle has yet to be attempted. This book fills this gap and provides an essential resource for academics and researchers with an interest in cinematic representations of the family and transnational cinema.The work will answer the following key questions: 1. Why is diasporic cinema characterised by a preponderance of family narratives?2. How does the diasporic family as constructed in cinema relate to or differ from models of family life in dominant social groups?3. What role does authorship play in the depiction of the diasporic family?4. How does diasporic cinema negotiate the aesthetic and generic conventions of film genres commonly associated with the representation of the family?Key featureso In-depth thematic study in the field of transnational film studieso Truly international coverage, including traditions of non-Western film cultureso Interdisciplinary approach offering an original and innovative model to encourage further researcho Planned companion website with a searchable database of relevant films, bibliographical references and an interactive discussion forum on key issues and themes (if AHRC funding application is successful, the website will also include podcasts of interviews with a number of filmmakers and other industry professionals).

Why have films with diasporic family narratives increased in popularity in recent years? How do representations of the diasporic family differ from those of more dominant social groups? How does diasporic cinema negotiate the conventions of film genres commonly associated with the representation of the family? In the age of globalisation, diasporic and other types of transnational family are increasingly represented in films such as East is East, Le Grand Voyage, Almanya – Welcome to Germany, Immigrant Memories, Couscous, When We Leave, Monsoon Wedding and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. While there is a significant body of scholarship on the representation of the family in Hollywood cinema, this is the first book to analyse the depiction of Black and Asian British, Maghrebi French and Turkish German families from a comparative transnational perspective. Drawing on critical concepts from diaspora studies, anthropology, socio-historical research on diasporic families and the burgeoning field of transnational film studies, this book is an essential read for Film Studies scholars and students who are researching families and issues of race and ethnicity in cinema, the media and visual culture.

A critical reassessment of the aesthetic strategies and cultural value of exoticism in contemporary transnational cinemasOffers an original, critical reappraisal of decentred exoticism in contemporary transnational and world cinemaIncludes eighteen case studies that are embedded in rich contextual detail and discussions of thematically similar filmsBrings exoticism into dialogue with cognate frameworks that conceptualise cross-cultural encounters, including primitivism, Orientalism, cultural translation, cultural appropriation, cosmopolitanism and autoethnography, thereby shifting the terms of the debate into a direction that opens new lines of inquiryAnalyses examples of global art, Indigenous and popular mainstream cinema from East Asia, India, South America, Canada, Australia, Europe and the USComes with a companion website: www.exotic-cinema.orgExotic Cinema is the first systematic analysis of decentred exoticism in contemporary transnational and world cinema. By critically examining regimes of visuality such as the imperial, the ethnographic and the exotic gaze, which have colonised our minds and ways of looking, Daniela Berghahn makes an important contribution to the urgent agenda of decolonising film studies.Berghahn demonstrates that decentred exoticism's aesthetic versatility and alluring alterity are uniquely relevant for understanding the transnational appeal of world cinema. She addresses prevalent controversies surrounding exoticism and illustrates that, in contemporary world cinema, it is utilised to draw attention to new ethical and socio-political goals. Global in scope and transnational in perspective, Exotic Cinema invites students and researchers to reassess this prominent mode of cultural representation.

Exotic Cinema is the first systematic analysis of decentred exoticism in contemporary transnational and world cinema. By critically examining regimes of visuality such as the imperial, the ethnographic and the exotic gaze, which have colonised our minds and ways of looking, Daniela Berghahn makes an important contribution to the urgent agenda of decolonising film studies.　Berghahn demonstrates that decentred exoticism’s aesthetic versatility and alluring alterity are uniquely relevant for understanding the transnational appeal of world cinema. She addresses prevalent controversies surrounding exoticism and illustrates that, in contemporary world cinema, it is utilised to draw attention to new ethical and socio-political goals. Global in scope and transnational in perspective, Exotic Cinema invites students and researchers to reassess this prominent mode of cultural representation.

When Head-On (Gegen die Wand, 2004) won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, it was hailed as a turning point for German cinema. Not only was this unconventional love story the first German film in eighteen years to win the prestigious award, but the success of writer-director Fatih Akin was also celebrated as the revival of German auteur cinema. Meanwhile Turkey claimed Akin as its own prodigal son and his film a victory for Turkish cinema.Daniela Berghahn provides a detailed and entertaining account of the film's artistic inspirations, its production history and the debates that surrounded it in the German and Turkish press. Arguing that much of the media discourse on Turkish German identity politics detracted from Akin's remarkable artistic achievement, Berghahn instead situates Head-On in the critical contexts of global art cinema and transnational melodrama. This comparative approach excavates new layers of meaning and offers highly original insights into Akin's landmark film.