Slums on screen : world cinema and the planet of slums

## A polycentric approach to the representation of slums in world cinema Near to one billion people call slums their home, making it a reasonable claim to describe our world as a ‘planet of slums.’ But how has this hard and unyielding way of life been depicted on screen? How have filmmakers engaged historically and across the globe with the social conditions of what is often perceived as the world’s most miserable habitats? Combining approaches from cultural, globalisation and film studies, Igor Krstic outlines a transnational history of films that either document or fictionalise the favelas, shantytowns, barrios poulares or chawls of our ‘planet of slums’, exploring the way accelerated urbanisation has intersected with an increasingly interconnected global film culture. From Jacob Riis’ __How The Other Half Lives__ (1890) to Danny Boyle’s __Slumdog Millionaire__ (2008), the volume provides a number of close readings of films from different historical periods and regions to outline how contemporary film and media practices relate to their past predecessors, demonstrating the way various filmmakers, both north and south of the equator, have repeatedly grappled with, rejected or continuously modified documentary and realist modes to convey life in our ‘planet of slums’. * [**Read the introduction to __Slums on Screen__ for free (pdf)**](%7B%7Bmedia) ## Key Features * Traces the global flows of film culture through emphasising the transnational impact of important film movements * Focuses on two important ‘cinematic megacities’ (Rio de Janeiro and Mumbai) to outline how global film cultural currents become modified according to a specific local context * Combines approaches from cultural, globalisation and film studies to reconstruct world cinema’s ‘planet of slums’ * Adds a new perspective on cultural (world cinema) and social (cityward migration) globalisation processes A polycentric approach to the representation of slums in world cinema Near to one billion people call slums their home, making it a reasonable claim to describe our world as a ‘planet of slums.’ But how has this hard and unyielding way of life been depicted on screen? How have filmmakers engaged historically and across the globe with the social conditions of what is often perceived as the world’s most miserable habitats? Combining approaches from cultural, globalisation and film studies, Igor Krstic outlines a transnational history of films that either document or fictionalise the favelas, shantytowns, barrios poulares or chawls of our ‘planet of slums’, exploring the way accelerated urbanisation has intersected with an increasingly interconnected global film culture. From Jacob Riis’ How The Other Half Lives (1890) to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (2008), the volume provides a number of close readings of films from different historical periods and regions to outline how contemporary film and media practices relate to their past predecessors, demonstrating the way various filmmakers, both north and south of the equator, have repeatedly grappled with, rejected or continuously modified documentary and realist modes to convey life in our ‘planet of slums’. (%7B%7Bmedia) Read the introduction to Slums on Screen for free (pdf) Key Features Traces the global flows of film culture through emphasising the transnational impact of important film movements Focuses on two important ‘cinematic megacities’ (Rio de Janeiro and Mumbai) to outline how global film cultural currents become modified according to a specific local context Combines approaches from cultural, globalisation and film studies to reconstruct world cinema’s ‘planet of slums’ Adds a new perspective on cultural (world cinema) and social (cityward migration) globalisation processes Despite the rise of the 'cinematic city' as an acknowledged paradigm in film and urban studies, 'cinematic slums' have remained severely under-researched, even though near to one billion people - almost one third of the global urban population - call slums their home. Accordingly, the author asks how this hard and unyielding way of life was depicted on screen; how have filmmakers engaged historically and across the globe with the social conditions of what is often perceived as the world's most miserable habitats? Combining approaches from the social sciences and the humanities, the book provides an interdisciplinary perspective while outlining a transnational history of films that either document or fictionalise the favelas, shantytowns, Elendsviertel, gecekondu, barrios populares or chawls of our diverse 'planet of slums', exploring the way accelerated urbanisation has intersected with an increasingly interconnected global film and media culture. From Jacob Riis's How The Other Half Lives (1890) to Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire (2008), the volume provides a number of close readings of slum representations of different historical periods and regions to outline how contemporary film and media practices relate to their past predecessors. It focuses thereby particularly on the way filmmakers, both north and south of the equator, have repeatedly grappled with, rejected or continuously modified documentary and realist modes of representation to convey life in our 'planet of slums' From Jacob Riis'How The Other Half Lives (1890) to Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Igor Krstić outlines a transnational history of films that either document or fictionalise the favelas, shantytowns, barrios poulares or chawls of our ‘planet of slums'.