Restricted vision: Censorship and cinematic resistance in Thailand

Film censorship screens the nation as a ‘way of seeing’ that is both fundamental to the art of governance and vulnerable to the flexibility of contemporary global images. In Thailand, this historically-conditioned regime arose in the geopolitics of the 1930 Film Act, the Motion Pictures and Video Act of 2008, and a coterminous regulation of visuality as a form of cultural governance. I pursue a close reading of two banned films by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Nontawat Numbenchapol, respectively, to illustrate the aesthetics of film censorship in light of the development of a national cinema, especially to consider the strategies that film-makers use to negotiate the governance of vision.

The Development of Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema

The purpose of the research is to investigate the history of contemporary Ukrainian cinema and to analyze the ways of its development. Highlight the main problems of national film production; identify the main principles and areas of its potential realization, the conditions for creating a successful and engaging film industry in Ukraine. The research methodology consists of the following methods: analytical – the study and analysis of historical materials of the Ukrainian cinema formation; empirical – the generalization of monitoring the intensity of filmmaking; theoretical – the research of prospects and directions of national film potential realization. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the prospects and directions of the national film potential realization are outlined based on the detailed in-depth analysis of the Ukrainian cinema historical development, an estimation of its modern condition. Conclusions. Analysis of the current state of Ukrainian cinema showed that the national cinema has undergone changes in the basic guidelines and value vectors of its development, intensified the process of realizing its potential, began building effective mechanisms of administrative and legal regulation of this area for development and proper functioning of the domestic film industry.

Transformation of Artistic Imageries of the World and National Cinema in the Era of Postmodern

Introduction. In the last third of the 20th century new trends appeared in various spheres of public life. That made possible to characterize this time period as the era of postmodern. The culture processes of this period were called postmodernism. Despite significant research on the topic and phenomenon of postmodernism, it remains a subject of discussion, which makes the problem of its further study actual. The article reveals postmodernism through the prism of new accents in the disclosure of artistic images in world and national cinema. Transformation of artistic imageries in the cinema is analyzed in the historical, cultural and philosophical terms, which is an element of novelty of the article.Methodology and sources. The methodology is based on the analysis of sources and literature, taking into account interdisciplinary approaches. Historical, comparative, systemic and semiotic research approaches are used. The author also used an integrated approach (formational and civilizational), which gives us a new perspective in understanding cultural phenomenon.Results and discussion. The artistic images of the world cinema are conceptually considered in a comparative analysis with the pre-war and post-war eras. The theoretical basis is the work of foreign (F. Jameson, J. Lacan) and domestic researchers (V.M. Dianova, I.P. Ilyin, N.A. Khrenov). National cinematography in the postmodern era is studied in the context of global and European processes, which makes possible to identify its general and specific feature.The results of the study show that in the last third of the 20th century, a significant transformation of artistic imageries took place in the world and in the national cinematography. It was based on unprecented social and cultural processes that led to profound behavioral and discursive changes. National cinematography reflected in its development global trends. However, the cultural development of Russian society in the postmodern era coincided with a systemic crisis and the collapse of statehood. That determined the specificity of Russian postmodernism, its philosophical and cultural orientation. In this regard, the urgency of the problem of studying the cultural dynamics of spiritual processes of the late Soviet period and post-Soviet Russia, including in cinematography, is obvious.Conclusion. Cinematography as one of the most important phenomena fully reflects the dynamics of modern spiritual processes. Therefore, the study of artistic imageries of the world and national cinematography in the postmodern era is of significant research interest. The use of interdisciplinary and integrated approaches, taking into account the achievements of foreign and national researches, allows us to get a multidimensial picture of the spiritual transformation of the society. An unbiased understanding of the cultural and historical experience of the last third of the 20th century makes it possible to better understand the modern world, because without an analysis of the past, both the present and the future are inconceivable.

The Hero Fallen: Zhang Yimou and the Question of Unstable Authorship

<p>When Zhang Yimou’s film, Hero (2002), was released it was one of the most successful Chinese films ever screened in American theaters. While many critics applauded the film’s aesthetics, other reviewers condemned the film for undermining the political potency of Zhang’s early films and promoting a fascist ideology. The interpretation of Hero as fascist propaganda has incited a controversy over the reception of the film that has penetrated academic as well as journalistic circles. A close look at this controversy reveals that there has been a tendency in the West to read a film and filmmaker in a manner predetermined by where they are from and the discourse that already exists. This ‘auto-reading’ or ‘auto-positioning’ tendency is symptomatic of a reliance on discourses of authorship and national cinema. The manner in which these discourses have permeated the way that the West has responded to Zhang and his films has given rise to three ‘recurring motifs:’ aesthetic virtuosity, cultural authenticity, and national politics. These motifs are characteristics which have been repeated so often that they became defining qualities of his authorship and have often determined the interpretation of his films. This thesis involves a mapping of the critical reception of Hero and the way it relates to Zhang’s prior work, his auteur status, and his relationship to the Chinese nation-state. Specifically, this thesis examines how the discursive reception of Zhang’s career and films provided the context out of which emerged the framework that justifies reading the film as fascist. Tracing the recurring motifs throughout the Western reception of Zhang’s films reveals the problematics of the reliance on the discourses of authorship and national cinema. This thesis will also explore Hero directly to investigate how the film’s ambiguities have contributed to the reading of the film as fascist but also how ambiguity facilitates the potential to interpret other meanings in the film.</p>

The Hero Fallen: Zhang Yimou and the Question of Unstable Authorship

<p>When Zhang Yimou’s film, Hero (2002), was released it was one of the most successful Chinese films ever screened in American theaters. While many critics applauded the film’s aesthetics, other reviewers condemned the film for undermining the political potency of Zhang’s early films and promoting a fascist ideology. The interpretation of Hero as fascist propaganda has incited a controversy over the reception of the film that has penetrated academic as well as journalistic circles. A close look at this controversy reveals that there has been a tendency in the West to read a film and filmmaker in a manner predetermined by where they are from and the discourse that already exists. This ‘auto-reading’ or ‘auto-positioning’ tendency is symptomatic of a reliance on discourses of authorship and national cinema. The manner in which these discourses have permeated the way that the West has responded to Zhang and his films has given rise to three ‘recurring motifs:’ aesthetic virtuosity, cultural authenticity, and national politics. These motifs are characteristics which have been repeated so often that they became defining qualities of his authorship and have often determined the interpretation of his films. This thesis involves a mapping of the critical reception of Hero and the way it relates to Zhang’s prior work, his auteur status, and his relationship to the Chinese nation-state. Specifically, this thesis examines how the discursive reception of Zhang’s career and films provided the context out of which emerged the framework that justifies reading the film as fascist. Tracing the recurring motifs throughout the Western reception of Zhang’s films reveals the problematics of the reliance on the discourses of authorship and national cinema. This thesis will also explore Hero directly to investigate how the film’s ambiguities have contributed to the reading of the film as fascist but also how ambiguity facilitates the potential to interpret other meanings in the film.</p>

The historical-biographical film: destinies and personalities

The history of national cinema shows that the evolution of non-fiction biographical film began with subjects dedicated to prominent personalities. These were included in the film magazine “Soviet Moldova” and in the almanac “Life in pictures”. In 1961, the first historical-biographical film “The Legendary Brigade Commander”- a eulogy to Grigore Kotovski (director A. Litvin) appeared at the “Moldova-film” studio, followed by other films dedicated to the heroes of the times: Pavel Tkacenko, Elena Sârbu, Tamara Cruciok, which were dominated by a pronounced propagandistic character. A new level of national historical-biographical film can be noticed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the filmmakers: Emil Loteanu (“Academician Tarasevici”), Andrei Buruiană (“Ştefan Neaga”), Vlad Druc (“Ion Creangă”) made their debut. Yet, the idea of biography especially predominates in the creation of Anatol Codru, who played a significant role in the affirmation stage of this kind of nonfiction film, bringing through his films, “Alexandru Plămădeală”, “Alexei Şciusev”, “Dimitrie Cantemir”,”Vasile Alecsandri” a new breath in the context of the films made before him. He imposed himself through a poetic-philosophical vision on the destinies and the creation of the personalities, who contributed to the spiritual prosperity of the nation.

Taking Netflix to the Cinema: National Cinema Value Chain Disruptions in the Age of Streaming

This article explores how international over-the-top services impact the national feature film value chain in Canada and Australia. The main objective of this exploration is to interrogate the tendency to classify Netflix as television—whether in the context of broadcasting policy or in light of disciplinary biases that tend to separate media industry studies from the more cinephilic text-focused approaches of film studies. By equating entertainment services like Netflix with television, the discussion of how feature films will sustain themselves in a rapidly changing market becomes sidelined. Examining examples from Canada and Australia, we seek to draw attention to the ways in which film sustains and develops its industry and how services like Netflix relate to policy mechanisms designed to foster national cinema. This article offers an intervention into the developing discourse around Netflix as television to ask the question: what does it mean to consider Netflix as cinema?