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Volume 23
Film Europa
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Sensitive Subjects
The Political Aesthetics of Contemporary German and Austrian Cinema
Leila Mukhida
218 pages, 20 illus., bibliog., index
ISBN 978-1-78920-630-2 $120.00/£89.00 Hb Published (November 2020)
eISBN 978-1-78920-631-9 eBook
Reviews
“This very well-constructed book has a lot to offer, including a uniquely systematic methodological approach to contemporary German-language cinema, an engaging discussion of a range of German-language films that have not been discussed together before, and a very accessible and elegant prose style that is a real pleasure to read.” • Marco Abel, University of Nebraska
Description
Both politically and aesthetically, the contemporary German and Austrian film landscape is a far cry from the early days of the medium, when critics like Siegfried Kracauer produced foundational works of film theory amid the tumult of the early twentieth century. Yet, as Leila Mukhida demonstrates in this innovative study, the writings of figures like Kracauer and Walter Benjamin in fact remain an undervalued tool for understanding political cinema today. 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.
Leila Mukhida is Lecturer in Modern German Studies at the University of Cambridge.
Subject: Film and Television Studies Media Studies
Area: Germany
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1. The Twenty-First-Century Worker Film: Workingman’s Death (2004) by Michael Glawogger and Karger (2007) by Elke Hauck
Chapter 2. Radical Realisms: Angela Schanelec’s Marseille (2004), Andreas Dresen’s Halt Auf Freier Strecke (2011), and Gerhard Friedl’s Hat Wolff Von Amerongen Konkursdelikte Begangen? (2004)
Chapter 3. Fragmented Stories for Fragmented Viewers: 71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls (1994) and Code Inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages (2000) by Michael Haneke
Chapter 4. Sensitive Subjects: Shock and Distraction in Hundstage (2001) by Ulrich Seidl, and in Sehnsucht (2006) by Valeska Grisebach
Conclusion
Filmography
Bibliography
Index