Cinema of Flames: Balkan Film, Culture, and the Media

by Dina Iordanova

First study of cinema, media and the Balkan wars; Wide-ranging view of politics and culture of the region; The break-up of Yugoslavia triggered a truly international film-making project. Underground, Ulysses' Gaze, Before the Rain, Pretty Village, Pretty Flame and Welcome to Sarajevo were amongst a host of films created as the conflicts in the region unravelled. These conflicts restored the Balkans as a centrepiece of Western imagery and the media (especially cinema) assumed a leading but ambiguous role in defining it for global consumption through a narrow range of selectively defined images. Simultaneously, a lot of the high-quality cinematic and television work made in the region (much of it discussed in this book) remains relatively unknown. Cinema of Flames attempts to go deeper than the imagery and address some of the general concerns of the cross-cultural representation and self-representation of the narrative strategies within the context of Balkan exclusion from the European cultural sphere, the cosmopolitan image of Sarejevo, diaspora, and the representations of villains, victims, women, and ethnic minorities, all considered in the general context of Balkan cinema. 'encyclopaedic in scope and brilliance, making excellent use of the scholarly literature whilst interweaving analysis of films and other mass media. The book will be a superb addition to the literatures on Bosnia and Yugoslavia. It will also serve as a standard reference on Balkans film.' Robert Hayden (University of Pittsburgh)

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2001

About the author

Dina Iordanova is Professor of Film Studies, University of St Andrews,and author of Cinema of Flames: Balkan Film, Culture and the Media. She is a global traveller.

Her current book, a labour of love, was conceived during one of her many visits to Paris, where she has been returning all over again for more than two decades. Although she has not yet managed to relocate herself physically, she is moving in her heart and soul's direction, with short spells for time out in other favourite places, like Istanbul and Hong Kong. Originally from a cinéphile family, she first studied Philosophy before running away from theory to indulge her passion for Cinema. Dina is the author, co-author and editor of many works, including: BFI Companion to Russian and Eastern European Cinema (1999), Cinema of Flames (2001), Emir Kusturica (2002), Cinema of the Other Europe (2003), Cinema of the Balkans (2006), The Film Festival Circuit (2009), Cinema at the Periphery (2010), Moving People, Moving Images (2010), Film Festivals and Imagined Communities (2010), Film Festivals and East Asia (2011), Film Festivals and Activism (2012), Digital Disruption (2012), Film Festival Reader (2013), Film Festivals and the Middle East (2014) and of many articles and chapters. She is Professor of Film Studies, and Director of the Institute for Global Cinema and Creative Cultures at the ancient University of St Andrews in Scotland, where she established the Film Studies programme in 2004.

Reviews

[Alptekin Uzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would be better if it was more focused on movies than history.