Michael Haneke – 23 March 1942

For Michael Haneke’s birthday, we have put together some of our relevent titles looking at the film director.

We have also collected some some Film Studies series, and Open Access Film and Television Studies for further browsing. For more content, you can also check out our website by Subject: Film and Television Studies here, or browse by Area, such as Europe, here.


Michael Haneke’s Cinema

The Ethic of the Image

Catherine Wheatley

Wheatley provides excellent close readings of a number of films and crucial film scenes. The book as a whole could be used in conjunction with a film course on Haneke, or its various chapters would lend themselves to discussions in graduate and even undergraduate courses on contemporary European film…The writing style is clear and while it pursues a critical theoretical analysis, it remains free from jargon.   ·  Monatshefte

Volume 7, Film Europa

SHORT-LISTED FOR BEST MOVING IMAGE BOOK BY THE AND/OR BOOK AWARDS; SHORT-LISTED FOR THE 2009 WILLY HAAS AWARD; NOMINATED SIGHT & SOUND MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE MONTH, SEPTEMBER 2009

Sensitive Subjects

The Political Aesthetics of Contemporary German and Austrian Cinema

Leila Mukhida

Through illuminating explorations of Michael Haneke, Valeska Grisebach, Andreas Dresen, and other filmmakers of the post-reunification era, Mukhida develops an analysis centered on film aesthetics and experience, showing how medium-specific devices like lighting, sound, and mise-en-scène can help to cultivate political sensitivity in spectators.

Volume 23, Film Europa

Read freely available introduction.


Existentialism and Contemporary Cinema

A Beauvoirian Perspective

Edited by Jean-Pierre Boulé and Ursula Tidd

This book is an attempt to redress this balance and reopen the dialogue between Beauvoir’s writings and film studies. The authors analyse a range of films, from directors including Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Lucille Hadzihalilovic, Sam Mendes, and Sally Potter, by drawing from Beauvoir’s key works such as The Second Sex (1949), The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947) and Old Age (1970).

Read freely available introduction.


New Austrian Film

Edited by Robert von Dassanowsky and Oliver C. Speck

Out of a film culture originally starved of funds have emerged rich and eclectic works by film-makers that are now achieving the international recognition that they deserve: Barbara Albert, Michael Haneke, Ulrich Seidl, and Stefan Ruzowitzky, to give four examples. This comprehensive critical anthology, by leading scholars of Austrian film, is intended to introduce and make accessible this much under-represented phenomenon.

Read freely available introduction.


Existentialism and Contemporary Cinema

A Sartrean Perspective

Edited by Jean-Pierre Boulé and Enda MacCaffrey

At the heart of this volume is the assertion that Sartrean existentialism, most prominent in the 1940s, particularly in France, is still relevant as a way of interpreting the world today. […] In a scholarly yet accessible style, the contributors exploit the rich interplay between Sartre’s philosophy, plays and novels, and a number of contemporary films including No Country for Old MenLost in Translation and The Truman Show, with film-makers including the Dardenne brothers, Michael Haneke, and Mike Leigh.

Read freely available introduction.


Additional Recommendation: A Title on Austrian Film

Homemade Men in Postwar Austrian Cinema

Nationhood, Genre and Masculinity

Maria Fritsche

“An extraordinary work, in Postwar Austrian Cinema adds to its lucid presentation of the social and aesthetic dynamics of Austrian national cinema after 1945 a welcome number of superb readings of better and lesser-known films. The period is unlikely to be served by a more thoughtful and attentive analysis any time soon.” • Austrian History Yearbook

Volume 15, Film Europa


Film Book Series


Browse Film Europa

“This is a series which, in a very short period of time, has had a huge impact on the field.”  ·  Monatshefte

German cinema is normally seen as a distinct form, but this series emphasizes connections, influences, and exchanges of German cinema across national borders, as well as its links with other media and art forms. Individual titles present traditional historical research (archival work, industry studies) as well as new critical approaches in film and media studies (theories of the transnational), with a special emphasis on the continuities associated with popular traditions and local perspectives.

Volume 29
Volume 28
Volume 27
Volume 26

Browse Visual And Media Cultures Of The Cold War And Beyond

Published by Berghahn Books and the DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

This interdisciplinary series focuses on a range of visual and media cultures in and beyond the Cold War period (1945-1991) in both social and transnational contexts. It explores ways in which film and other media, their creators and audiences, and industries and states participated in, were shaped by and, in turn, shaped cultural relations during the Cold War. Beyond 1991, this series also welcomes interdisciplinary explorations of the legacies of the Cold War and its ongoing cultural impact in a global context.


Check out some of our Open Access Film and Television Studies titles. Browse more here.


Andrzej Wajda (6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016)

Polish Cinema

For Andrzej Wajda’s birthday, we have put together some of our titles looking at the Polish film director, as well as some titles on Eastern European cinema, down below.

For more content, you can browse our website by Subject: Film and Television Studies here, or browse by Area: Central/Eastern Europe here.


Open Access

From Self-fulfilment to Survival of the Fittest

Work in European Cinema from the 1960s to the Present

Ewa Mazierska

Contrary to the assumption that Western and Eastern European economies and cinemas were very different from each other, they actually had much in common. After the Second World War both the East and the West adopted a mixed system, containing elements of both socialism and capitalism, and from the 1980s on the whole of Europe, albeit at an uneven speed, followed the neoliberal agenda. This book examines how the economic systems of the East and West impacted labor by focusing on the representation of work in European cinema. Using a Marxist perspective, it compares the situation of workers in Western and Eastern Europe as represented in both auteurist and popular films, including those of Andrzej Wajda.

Read freely available introduction, and more with open access.


Polish Cinema

A History

Marek Haltof

First published in 2002, Marek Haltof’s seminal volume was the first comprehensive English-language study of Polish cinema, providing a much-needed survey of one of Europe’s most distinguished—yet unjustly neglected—film cultures. Since then, seismic changes have reshaped Polish society, European politics, and the global film industry. This thoroughly revised and updated edition takes stock of these dramatic shifts to provide an essential account of Polish cinema from the nineteenth century to today, covering such renowned figures as Kieślowski, Skolimowski, and Wajda along with vastly expanded coverage of documentaries, animation, and television, all set against the backdrop of an ever-more transnational film culture.

Read freely available introduction.


Polish Film and the Holocaust

Politics and Memory

Marek Haltof

During World War II Poland lost more than six million people, including about three million Polish Jews who perished in the ghettos and extermination camps built by Nazi Germany in occupied Polish territories. This book is the first to address the representation of the Holocaust in Polish film and does so through a detailed treatment of several films, which the author frames in relation to the political, ideological, and cultural contexts of the times in which they were created. Following the chronological development of Polish Holocaust films, the book begins with two early classics: Wanda Jakubowska’s The Last Stage (1948) and Aleksander Ford’s Border Street (1949), and next explores the Polish School period, represented by Andrzej Wajda’s A Generation (1955) and Andrzej Munk’s The Passenger (1963). Between 1965 and 1980 there was an “organized silence” regarding sensitive Polish-Jewish relations resulting in only a few relevant films until the return of democracy in 1989 when an increasing number were made, among them Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue 8 (1988), Andrzej Wajda’s Korczak (1990), Jan Jakub Kolski’s Keep Away from the Window (2000), and Roman Polański’s The Pianist (2002). An important contribution to film studies, this book has wider relevance in addressing the issue of Poland’s national memory.

Read freely available introduction.


Andrzej Wajda

History, Politics & Nostalgia In Polish Cinema

Janina Falkowska

Falkowska’s comprehensive survey of Wajda’s artistic evolution is a worthwhile addition to the growing critical literature on this exceptional filmmaker. In practical terms, the monographs is also useable as a textbook and…can serve as a point of departure for the continuing discourse von Andrzej Wajda and his films.”  ·  Slavic and East European Journal


The Political Films of Andrzej Wajda

Dialogism in Man of Marble, Man of Iron, and Danton

Janina Falkowska

Andrzej Wajda is considered one of Poland’s – many would say the world’s – greatest film directors. During the thirty-five years of his activity in film, theatre or television, his work, whether strong or weak, always arouses strong emotions and provokes intense debates in the media. His films deal with historical and political issues concerning Polish character and the nature of political power. Controversial, painful, stimulating and cinematically beautiful, they never fail to fully engage the spectator. This is particularly true for his major political films, which form the basis of the study. Applying Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism, the author shows how a creative interaction between the image on the screen and the viewer is established through Wajda‘s films. At the same time, she offers a detailed analysis of the historical events leading up to the collapse of the Socialist system in Poland.


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Journals

World Water Day

World Water Day is an annual event celebrated on March 22. The day focuses attention on the importance of freshwater and advocates for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. For an opportunity to learn more about water related issues and how to take action to make a difference please visit www.worldwaterday.org

Berghahn is pleased to offer a selection of relevant books and journal articles below.

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World Water Day

water-101688_1920
World Water Day is an annual event celebrated on March 22. The day focuses attention on the importance of freshwater and advocates for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. For an opportunity to learn more about water related issues and how to take action to make a difference please visit www.worldwaterday.org
In recognition of this year’s World Water Day, Berghahn Books is happy to offer 25% discount on all relevant titles. Visit our webpage and enter code Water19 at checkout. Offer valid through April 22, 2019.

We’re also delighted to offer FREE access to the following articles from Nature and Culture until March 31st, 2019:

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Berghahn Books at SfAA 2019 Conference!

logoWe are delighted to inform you that we will be attending the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) annual meeting in Portland, Oregon on March 19-23, 2019. Please stop by our stand to browse our latest selection of books at a special discounted prices and pick up free journal samples.

If you are unable to attend, we would like to provide you with a special discount offer. For the next 30 days, receive a 25% discount on all Applied Anthropology titles found on our website. At checkout, simply enter the discount code SfAA2019. Just a reminder that our journal, Anthropology in Action is OPEN ACCESS through Knowledge Unlatched!

Visit our website­ to browse new enhanced subject searching features­ for a complete listing of titles and don’t forget about our expanding list of eBooks available for download directly via our site. Visit our Anthropology eBook site.

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Berghahn Books at SCMS 2019 Conference!

We are delighted to inform you that we will be attending the 60th Society for Cinema & Media Studies Conference in Seattle, Washington on March 13th to 17th, 2019. Please stop by our stand to meet the editor, browse our latest selection of books at discounted prices and pick up free journal samples.

If you are unable to attend, we would like to provide you with a special discount offer. For the next 30 days, receive a 25% discount on all Film & Media Studies titles found on our website. At checkout, simply enter the discount code SCMS19.

Visit our website­ to browse our newly published interactive online Film & Media Studies 2019 Catalog or use the new enhanced subject searching features­ for a complete listing of all published and forthcoming titles. Also available is FULL ACCESS to our journal, Projections until 3/31. Access code and instructions are below.

Don’t forget about our expanding list of eBooks available for download directly via our site. Visit our Film Studies eBooks site.

 

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Celebrate International Women’s Day

 The event has been celebrated on March 8 since 1913.International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated all across Europe on March 8, corresponding with Women’s History Month in the United States. In the US March is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. All around the world, International Women’s day and National Women’s History Month present an opportunity to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women while calling for greater equality! For more information on this year’s theme, events around the globe and on how you can take part in creating a more gender inclusive world please visit internationalwomensday.com.

In recognition of the day Berghahn is pleased to offer 25% discount on any of our Gender Studies books on orders place on our website before the end of March. Visit our webpage and simply enter the code IWD18 at checkout.

Check out a special virtual journal issue here. 
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World Autism Awareness Day

 

autism dayThe ninth annual World Autism Awareness Day is April 2, 2017. Every year, autism organizations around the world celebrate the day with unique fundraising and awareness-raising events. The theme this year is “Toward Autonomy and Self-Determination.” Follow people’s experiences with Autism Awareness on social media with the hashtag #LIUB.

In recognition of this year’s observance, we’re happy to make the following scholarly journal articles free to access online until April 12.

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Milena Jesenská: Prague, the Morning of 15 March 1939

Milena JesenskáMilena Jesenská (10 August 1896 – 17 May 1944) was a Czech journalist, writer, editor and translator. She is popularly remembered as one of Franz Kafka’s great loves, and Jesenská’s translation of The Stoker was the first translation of Kafka’s writings into any foreign language.

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the German army, Jesenská joined an underground resistance movement and helped many Jewish and political refugees to emigrate. In the Czech Republic, she is remembered as one of the most prominent journalists of the interwar period and as a brave one: in 1939 she was arrested for her work in the resistance after the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia, and died in Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1944.

It is estimated that Jesenská wrote well over 1,000 articles but only a handful have been translated into English. In The Journalism Of Milena Jesenská: A Critical Voice in Interwar Central Europe, her own writings provide a new perspective on her personality, as well as the changes in Central Europe between the two world wars as these were perceived by a woman of letters. The articles in this volume cover a wide range of topics, including her perceptions of Kafka, her understanding of social and cultural changes during this period, the threat of Nazism, and the plight of the Jews in the 1930s.

On 15 March 1939, the German Wehrmacht moved into Prague, and the occupation would not end until the surrender of Germany following World War II. Below is an excerpt from the book The Journalism Of Milena Jesenská: A Critical Voice in Interwar Central Europe.


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