Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media. Issue 25: Spotlight on Early Career Research in Film Studies
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Item Reframing diaspora cinema: Towards a theoretical framework(Film and Screen Media, University College Cork, 2023) De Man, Alexander; Mulvey, JamesThis article reviews how the concept of “diaspora cinema” has featured in academic discourses over the past 30 years, examining its underpinning paradigms. In the wake of a transnational and postcolonial shift within film studies, “diaspora cinema” has been increasingly understood in its imbrication with Third Cinema, postcolonial cinema, transnational cinema, accented cinema, intercultural cinema, cinema of transvergence, etc. While critically mapping out these descriptive conceptualisations and models, this article advances an understanding of “diaspora cinema” as an instrumental framework to grasp how diaspora identities, cultures, and spaces are discursively co-constructed through cinematic practices, rather than as a cinematic category per se.Item Illuminationist cinema: How Islamic mysticism inspired Morteza Avini’s Sacred Defence documentaries of the Iran–Iraq War and his attempt at constructing a film theory(Film and Screen Media, University College Cork, 2023) Abbasian, Kaveh; Mulvey, James‘Sacred Defence cinema’ is the official title given to Iranian pro-establishment war films concerning mainly the Iran-Iraq War [1980-1988]. The most prominent figure of this filmmaking movement who both made films and wrote about them was the documentary filmmaker, Morteza Avini [1947-1993]. In his search for a new Islamic inspired cinematic language, Avini argued that Islamic mysticism could inspire a mode of filmmaking which he called ‘illuminationist cinema’. He used this term mainly in order to reflect on the filmmaking techniques he developed and used during the making of his own documentaries, but also proposed it as a filmmaking method to be adopted by other Islamic filmmakers. Avini’s early death in 1993 put a stop to his theorisation of ‘illuminationist cinema’; however, his films and his writings continue to inspire new generations of Iranian propaganda filmmakers. In this paper, by analysing Avini’s films and writings, I lay out a definition of his ‘illuminationist cinema’ and explain what aspects of Islamic mysticism inspired which filmmaking techniques developed and theorised by him.Item Spotlight on early career research in film studies(Film and Screen Media, University College Cork, 2023) Mulvey, James; Mulvey, JamesIn recent years, individuals and groups from inside and outside of academia have called for greater diversity on screen, resulting in campaigns such as #MeToo, #TimesUp, and #OscarsSoWhite. In particular, the gender imbalance that exists on screen and behind the camera has been a particular point of focus. Our aim for this special issue is to present research that suggests a way forward for practitioners, educators and members of the broader screen industries from all over the globe with regard to improving gender and diversity imbalances. We note important prior studies and projects exploring screen diversity in industry and educational contexts. We then explore ongoing issues and barriers for the fostering of diversity, such as practitioner perceptions of slow change, organisational initiatives, the impact of caring duties, and television cultures. The editorial ends by presenting an overview of strategies to effect change through screen education.Item Freedom smothered: Gang rape as patriarchal punishment of emancipated women in Yugoslav new film(Film and Screen Media, University College Cork, 2023) Vuković, Vesi; Mulvey, JamesThis paper investigates how women, and their roles in changing Yugoslav society, were represented in Yugoslav New Film (1961-1972). Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia legalized gender equality in the wake of the Second World War, but the tentacles of patriarchy, which were difficult to eradicate, still lingered from pre-socialist times. In many movies there is a recurring pattern of sexual violence towards women. One possible interpretation of depicted sexual violation, for example gang rape in contemporary-themed Yugoslav New Films, is as a patriarchal punishment for emancipation of women in terms of education, work, or their sexuality. In order to examine this, the feature-length fictional films: Povratak/The Return (Živojin Pavlović, 1966) and Horoskop/Horoscope (Boro Drašković, 1969), in which the freedom of women’s emancipation was smothered by gang rape, are selected for the case study and analysed. The films are explored through the lens of feminist film theory, via close reading. Besides, the concept of the gaze is applied. Furthermore, I scrutinise whether these representations of rape and their aftermaths condone, or condemn brutality toward female characters, or have rather ambivalent stance toward it.Item How long is a good story? Compressed narratives in British screen advertising since 1955(Film and Screen Media, University College Cork, 2023) Caston, Emily; Caston, EmilyThe sixty second commercial has held a privileged status with the British television advertising industry since 1955. Recent scholarship in the useful film paradigm offers a promising starting point to analyse the design craft of the industry, as does scholarship on early advertising film. But in order to fully understand the evolution of this privileged status it is necessary to understand the conflicts that drive the different sectional parts of the tripartite supply chain and the organisations that regulate the design such as the Advertising Producers’ Association and Design and Art Direction Awards. It is also necessary to understand the use of certain devices film directors use in this compressed narrative form. Textual density is a primary one. Narrative in screen advertising remains under-researched. This article examines a range of commercials from the 1960s to the 2020s which utilise these devices to engage audiences in stories that sell brands, demonstrating some of the varied and transmedial way that narrative works across different categories of product and multi-media campaigns.