CROSSING NEW EUROPE

Although a long-established and influential genre, this is the first comprehensive study of European road cinema. Crossing New Europe investigates this tradition, its relationship with the American road movie and its aesthetic forms. It examines such crucial issues as individual and national identity crises, and phenomena such as displacement, diaspora, exile, migration, nomadism and tourism in postmodern, post-Berlin Wall Europe. Drawing on the work of Said, Hall, Shields, Urry, Bauman, Deleuze and Guattari and other critical theorists, Crossing New Europe adopts a broad interpretation of ‘Europe’ and discusses directors who have long been associated with the road movie, such as Wim Wenders (Alice in the Cities, Lisbon Story) and Aki Kaurismäki (Leningrad Cowboys Go America!); authors with a distinctive vision of the road, such as Eric Rohmer, Werner Herzog and Patrick Keiller; and more recent contributions such as Morvern Callar, Calendar, Code Unknown, Dear Diary and Last Resort.

January 2006
224 pages

978-1–904764–67–0 (pbk)	£16.99	£14.44 with 15% online discount - add to basket
978-1–904764–68–7 (hbk)	£45.00	£38.25 with 15% online discount - add to basket

Ewa Mazierska is Reader in Contemporary Cinema at the University of Central Lancashire.

Laura Rascaroli is Toyota Lecturer in Film and Media Studies at the National University of Ireland, Cork. They are co-authors of < ahref="http://wall.hcoms.co.uk/product/directors-cuts/the-cinema-of-nanni-moretti">The Cinema of Nanni Moretti: Dreams and Diaries (2004).

'The book's authors embrace contemporary film and cultural studies theories in an informative way throughout their analyses. An underlying dichotomy orients the discussion of European road films in a highly convincing manner and allows for the presentation of a fascinating array of the most recent films, which deal with diverse cultures, nations and languages within the new, enlarged Europe, particularly in the context of its political and social changes of the past three decades. [Authors] do so an impressive informative and convincing way, making the book an important read for both film and cultural studies specialists.'
– Janina Falkowska, University of Western Ontario 

'The scope of theory ... is impressive, as are the lucidity, accessibility and cogency of Mazierska and Rascaroli’s overall interpretive application.'
– Polona Petek, Senses of Cinema

'Crossing New Europe provides a highly informative, accessibly written and remarkably comprehensive transnational perspective on European film … likely to become an indispensable reference for scholars, students and fans of European cinema.'
– Tim Bergfelder, Southampton University

‘We see that [the authors] shift debates within Film Studies … toward issues which will best reflect the circumstances of this more transnational Europe: displacement, migration, exile, diaspora, and the status of the nation-state … Mazierska and Rascaroli’s new book is warmly welcome.’
– Steve Choe, Transit