Neil Mitchell – författare

The capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia, Sydney has been represented onscreen since the earliest days of cinema. An eclectic combination of tough inner-city suburbs, beachside communities and green outlying exurbs, Sydney offers many intriguing possibilities to filmmakers. The tensions and differences found among its many multicultural inhabitants, poorer and wealthier suburbs and central business district and beaches are reflected, exaggerated, and critiqued in memorable movies such as The Last Wave, Puberty Blues, Strictly Ballroom and Little Fish, among many others. Sydney is a city where sun, sports and surf rub shoulders with crime, racial tensions and class divides.The contributors to this collection take readers on a virtual tour of Sydney, from Kings Cross, the city’s red light district and frequent film location, to the famous beaches, to explore how representations in movies have both played into and influenced how we think of these spaces and those that frequent them. Essays also consider the experimental film group UBU Films, who shot shorts and features in and around Sydney’s inner city suburbs during the 1960s and early 1970s, and the Sydney Opera House, one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks, and its role in movies both Australian and international.Packed with full-colour photographs, this is the first book of its kind to deal specifically with Sydney and film. It will find a grateful audience among film lovers, casual viewers, tourists and film historians.

The first volume of the Directory of World Cinema: Britain provided an overview of British cinema from its earliest days to the present. In this, the second volume, the contributors focus on specific periods and trace the evolutions of individual genres and directors.A complementary edition rather than an update of its predecessor, the book offers essays on war and family films, as well as on LGBT cinema and representations of disability in British films. Contributors consider established British directors such as Ken Loach and Danny Boyle as well as newcomer Ben Wheatley, who directed the fabulously strange A Field in England. This volume also shines the spotlight on the British Film Institute and its role in funding, preservation and education in relation to British cinema.A must read for any fan of film, the history of the United Kingdom, or international artistic traditions, Directory of World Cinema: Britain 2 will find an appreciative audience both within and outside academia.

An exciting and visually focused tour of the diverse range of films shot on location in London, World Film Locations: London presents contributions spanning the Victorian era, the swinging ’60s and the politically charged atmosphere following the 2005 subway bombings. Essays exploring key directors, themes and historical periods are complemented by reviews of important scenes that offer particular insight into London's relationship to cinema. The book is illustrated throughout with full-colour film stills and photographs of cinematic landmarks as they appear now – as well as city maps to aid those keen to investigate them.

Bringing to mind rockers and royals, Buckingham Palace and the Scottish Highlands, Britain holds a special interest for international audiences who have flocked in recent years to quality exports like Fish Tank, Trainspotting and The King's Speech. A series of essays and articles exploring the definitive films of Great Britain, this addition to Intellect's Directory of World Cinema series turns the focus on England together with Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.With a focus on the most cerebral and critically important films to have come out of Britain, this volume explores the diversity of genres found throughout British film, highlighting important regional variations that reflect the distinctive cultures of the countries involved. Within these genres, Emma Bell and Neil Mitchell have curated a rich collection of films for review – from Hitchcock's spy thriller The 39 Steps to Emeric Pressburger's art classic The Red Shoes to the gritty but heartfelt This is England. Interspersed throughout the book are critical essays by leading experts in the field providing insight into shifting notions of Britishness, important industry developments and the endurance of the British film industry. For those up on their Brit film facts and seeking to test their expertise, the book concludes with a series of trivia questions.A user-friendly look at the cultural and artistic significance of British cinema from the silent era to the present, Directory of World Cinema: Britain will be an essential companion to the country's bright and resurgent film industry.

An illuminating and visually led guide to a selection of the films set wholly or in part in Melbourne, World Film Locations: Melbourne covers the big screen representations of life in the city from the Victorian era to the present day. Short analyses of iconic scenes and themed essays focusing on key directors and recurring themes and locations combine to highlight the city's relationship to cinema. Illustrated throughout with full colour film stills and photographs of the locations as they are now – from architectural landmarks to largely unexplored outer-suburbs – the book also contains city maps for those wishing to explore Melbourne's richly diverse cinematic streets.From visions of Ned Kelly, via tales of sporting drama to the coming-of-age films of the 1980s and beyond, this accessible trip around the birthplace of the Australian film industry will both firmly cement Melbourne's reputation as a richly diverse creative hotbed and enhance the standing of the films and filmmakers associated with the city.

Brian De Palma's adaptation of Stephen King's debut novel, Carrie (1976), is one of the defining films of 1970s "New Hollywood" style and a horror classic. The story of a teenage social outcast who discovers she possesses latent psychic powers that allow her to deliver retribution to her peers, teachers, and abusive mother, Carrie was an enormous commercial and critical success and is still one of the finest screen adaptations of a King novel. This contribution to the Devil's Advocates series not only breaks the film down into its formal componenets--its themes, stylistic tropes, technical approaches, uses of color and sound, dialogue, and visual symbolism--but also considers a multitude of other factors contributing to the work's classic status. The act of adapting King's novel for the big screen, the origins of the novel itself, the place of Carrie in De Palma's oeuvre, the subsequent versions and sequel, and the social, political, and cultural climate of the era (including the influence of second wave feminism, loosening sexual norms, and changing representations of adolescence), as well as the explosion of interest in and the evolution of the horror genre during the decade, are all shown to have played an important part in the film's success and enduring reputation.