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

"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 Balkans: 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)"--Bloomsbury publishing Machine generated contents note: Chapter 1: War in the Balkans - Moving Images Part 1 - Europe: Location or Destination? Narrative and History Chapter 2: Are the Balkans Admissible? The Discourse on Europe Chapter 3: Narrating the Balkans Chapter 4: Narrative and Putative History Part 2 - Commitments Amid Strife Chapter 5: Balkan Film and History: The Politics of Historical Collage Chapter 6: Kusturica's Underground: Historical Allegory or Propaganda? Chapter 7: Taking Sides Chapter 8: Violence: 'Violated Trust, Indoctrination, Self-Destruction Part 3 - People Chapter 9: Villains and Victims Chapter 10: Representing Women's Concerns Chapter 11: Gypsies: Looking at 'Them', Defining Oneself Part 4 - Spaces Chapter 12: Visions of Sarajevo: The World Comes to the Balkans Chapter 13: Migrating Mind and Expanding Universe: The Balkans Come to the World.

This text attempts to go deeper than the imagery and address some of the general concerns of the cross-cultural representation and self-representation of the Balkans in the media.

"This book surveys the ... films that were made in response to the 1990's crisis in the Balkans, and in particular the Bosnian war"--Ch. 1