Nicholas Dromgoole tells the story of performance from a fresh and unusual point of view, describing the development – from ancient Greece to contemporary stages and film – of western Europe's surprising and largely unknown variety of acting styles. Using the idea of a culture's shared 'language of gesture', he explores the growth, evolution and impact these languages have had on our engagement with and understanding of theatre.
This book re-presents voices of resistance from across the globe to document the communicative processes, practices, and frameworks through which neoliberal global policies are currently being defied. Based on examples, case studies, and ethnographic reports, Voices of Resistance serves as a space for engaging various perspectives from the global margins in dialogue. The emphasis of the book is on the core idea that creating spaces for listening to voices of resistance fosters openings for the politics of social change-interweaving the stories of the local, the national, and the global. The book is divided into chapters addressing the politics of resistance in the contexts of global economic policies, agriculture, education, health, poverty, and development.
Historically a source of emigrants to Northern Europe and the New World, Italy has rapidly become a preferred destination for immigrants from the global South. Life in the land of la dolce vita has not seemed so sweet recently, as Italy struggles with the cultural challenges caused by this surge in immigration. Marvelous Bodies by Vetri Nathan explores thirteen key full-length Italian films released between 1990 and 2010 that treat this remarkable moment of cultural role reversal through a plurality of styles. In it, Nathan argues that Italy sees itself as the quintessential internal Other of Western Europe, and that this subalternity directly influences its cinematic response to immigrants, Europe's external Others. In framing his case to understand Italy's cinematic response to immigrants, Nathan first explores some basic questions: Who exactly is the Other in Italy? Does Italy's own past partial alterity affect its present response to its newest subalterns? Drawing on Homi Bhabha's writings and Italian cinematic history, Nathan then posits the existence of marvelous bodies that are momentarily neither completely Italian nor completely immigrant. This ambivalence of forms extends to the films themselves, which tend to be generic hybrids. The persistent curious presence of marvelous bodies and a pervasive generic hybridity enact Italy's own chronic ambivalence that results from its presence at the cultural crossroads of the Mediterranean.
A celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie musical, this new book The Wizard of Oz offers a rare glimpse into the creation of the classic film, its creator L. Frank Baum, the Academy Award-winning score, the leading lady, and the Oz phenomenon that continues to captivate the world.Although Oz creator L. Frank Baum died twenty years prior to the release of MGM’s celebrated film, his fascinating career and story, as told in this new book, will surprise even the most devoted Oz fans. Prior to MGM’s 1939 release of the movie, Baum’s book was featured as a Broadway musical, with songs by the justifiably forgotten Fred R. Hamlin, and two bizarre silent movies. The enduring appeal and lasting influence of The Wizard of Oz are discussed in a special chapter by creator’s great-grandson Roger Baum.The Wizard of Oz will lead the reader down the proverbial yellow brick road to discover:The seven flawless decisions MGM made to adapt Baum’s sprawling children’s book into a movie musical.The groundbreaking moviemaking techniques, MGM’s second full-length Technicolor film.The surprising story behind Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg’s superlative score, which includes “Over the Rainbow,” considered the greatest movie song of all time.How Judy Garland won “Dorothy,” her most enduring role, after 20th Century Fox refused to loan Shirley Temple to MGM.The birth of film’s greatest canine star, Cairn Terrier, Terry, as Dorothy’s little dog “Toto”.The many everyday Oz expressions that come from the most oft-quoted movie of all timeHow the Wicked Witch of the West (renamed her Elphaba after Oz creator’s initials) was remade “for good” in Broadway’s Oz prequel Wicked.This celebration of the iconic film is a must-have for all Wizard of Oz lovers.
Everybody loves the movies. But a movie about the colour blue, or an isolated mountain range, or a man grown so thin the world floats through his perfect transparency? Welcome to the strange and wonderful universe of fringe cinema. Twenty-three interviews with Canada's finest underdogs. Includes a foreword by Atom Egoyan.
Guy Maddin is one of Canada's most celebrated and original filmmakers, the director of such delirious films as Tales from the Gimli Hospital, Careful, Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary, The Saddest Music in the World and My Winnipeg. Few know, however, that he is just as gifted a writer, and his resolutely purple prose, as eccentric and enchanting as his film work, is a true delight. From the Atelier Tovar gathers, in one volume, the best of Maddin's writing: his journalism (originally published in the Village Voice, Cinema Scope, Film Comment and points beyond), unpublished short stories and film treatments (including the riotous Child Without Qualities), and selections, both lurid and illuminating, from the filmmaker's personal journals. Here are Maddin's feverish musings on hockey, the Osmonds, divas of the Italian silent cinema, Bollywood, his own twisted biography, and much, much more. What emerges finally is both a fragrant potpourri and a treasure trove, a singular portrait of this very unique artist.
Founded in 1997 by producer Anita Lee and journalist Andrew Sun, the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is a unique showcase of contemporary Asian cinema and work from the Asian diaspora. The festival fosters the exchange of cultural and artistic ideals between East and West, provides a public forum for homegrown Asian media artists and their work and fuels the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada. In Reel Asian: Asian Canada on Screen, contributors, many of them filmmakers, examine East and Southeast Asian Canadian contributions to independent film and video. From artist-run centres, theories of hyphenation, distribution networks and gay and lesbian cinema to F-words, new media technologies and sweet n' sour controversies, Reel Asian: Asian Canada on Screen presents a multi-faceted picture of independent Asian film in Canada. The collection highlights the screen as a site for the reflection, projection and reimagination of identities and communities. Includes: David Eng, Ann Marie Fleming, Richard Fung, Monika Kin Gagnon, Colin Geddes, Kwoi Gin, Mike Hoolboom, Alice Ming Wai Jim, Cheuk Kwan, Julia Kwan, Anita Lee, Helen Lee, Karin Lee, Keith Lock, Pamila Matharu, Christine Miguel, Tan Hoang Nguyen, Midi Onodera, Mieko Ouchi, Alice Shih, Mina Shum, Mary Stephen, Ho Tam, Loretta Todd, Khanhthuan Tran, Phil Tsui, Paul Wong, Su-Anne Yeo, Iris Yudai and Wayne Yung.
'The streets are full of admirable craftsmen, but so few practical dreamers.' – Man Ray What if there were movies made the same way as suits, custom fitted, each one tailored for one person? Not broadcast, but narrowcast? Not theatres around the world showing the same globalized pictures, but instead a local circumstance, a movie so particular, so peculiar, it could cure night blindness or vertigo? Welcome to the world of fringe movies, where artists have been busy putting queer shoulders to the wheels, or bending light to talk about First Nations rights (and making it funny at the same time), or demonstrating how a personality can be taken apart and put together again, all in the course of a ten-minute movie which might take years to make. Practical Dreamers takes us to this other side of the media plantation. In it, twenty-seven Canadian artists dish about how they get it done and why it matters. The conversations are personal, up close and jargon free, smart without smarting. The stellar cast includes smartbomb Steve Reinke; visionary Peter Mettler; Middle East specialist Jayce Salloum; queer Asian avatars Richard Fung, Midi Onodera, Ho Tam, and Wayne Yung; footage recyclers Aleesa Cohene and Jubal Brown; overhead projector king Daniel Barrow; First Nations vets Kent Monkman and Shelley Niro; international art presence Paulette Philips; and documentarian Donigan Cumming. These in-depth talks come lavishly illustrated in an oversized volume.
Drawing on state-of-the art-research within cognitive science the book provides new perspectives on the much debated work of Stanley Kubrick.The book fulfills the need for providing the reader with an alternative to the dominant linguistic approach to meaning in cinema.The book illustrates its theoretical ideas in a clear and accessible fashion through an analysis of various rich examples drawn from Kubrick’s oeuvre.
In 1969, the Village Voice described Minneapolis as "America's second theater city after New York." In the forty-plus years since, the theatrical offerings of Minneapolis and St. Paul have only grown—everything from world-renowned venues to independent stages and innovative festivals—and the Twin Cities hold a prominent place in the national theater scene today. In Offstage Voices, author Peg Guilfoyle provides an in-depth look at this vibrant world and offers fascinating insights into what it takes to put on a production, from first script to closing night, and what it takes to make a living in Twin Cities theater.<br /><br />Firsthand stories from practitioners of the art take you behind the scenes at a wide range of theaters, including the Guthrie, the Playwrights' Center, Ten Thousand Things, Mixed Blood, Penumbra, Theater Latté Da, Mu Performing Arts, the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and many more. Extensive interviews with actors, artistic directors, designers, and playwrights reveal rich perspectives on the at times turbulent, always passionate world of the theater. Guilfoyle brings together these myriad experiences to explore why and how the Twin Cities have established such a strong and well-regarded theatrical community over the last four decades.