Tim Bergfelder

National, transnational, or supranational cinema? Rethinking European film studies

This article discusses critical parameters and historical perceptions that have dominated the academic study of European cinema since the 1990s. The main argument is that what has been frequently ignored is the supranational dimension of the term ‘European’. Thus, while the field of European film studies has witnessed a number of significant shifts in emphasis (most pertinently the refocusing from art cinema towards popular film genres), the core debate still primarily centres on national cinemas. The article then suggests engaging in areas that exemplify interconnectedness between national cinemas. These include patterns of inter-European migration and issues of multiculturalism; industrial practices such as co-productions; as well as localized strategies of receiving foreign films through mechanisms of translation and adaptation.

Film Architecture and the Transnational Imagination : Set Design in 1930s European Cinema

European cinema between World Wars I and II was renowned for its remarkable attention to detail and visual effects in set design. Visionary designers such as Vincent Korda and Alfred Junge extended their influence across national film industries in Paris, London, and Berlin, transforming the studio system into one of permeable artistic communities. For the first time, Film Architecture and the Transnational Imagination provides a comparative study of European film set design in the late 1920s and 1930s. Based on a wealth of drawings, film stills, and archival documents from the period, this volume illuminates the emerging significance of transnational artistic collaboration in light of developments in Britain, France, and Germany. A comprehensive analysis of the practices, styles, and function of interwar cinematic production design, Film Architecture and the Transnational Imagination offers new insight into the period’s remarkable achievements and influence on subsequent generations.

Studying Cross-Cultural Marketing and Reception : Ingmar Bergman’s Persona

Internationally, Ingmar Bergman epitomizes the classic European auteur — even though he reached the peak of his career over 30 years ago, and withdrew from active film-making in the early 1980s. When two of his most famous films, Wild Strawberries (Smultronstallet, 1957) and Persona (1966), were re-released following a retrospective at the National Film Theatre in London in 2003, one critic noted that Bergman ‘has become a byword for bleakness … the cinematic equivalent of the daunting literary genius that everyone admires, but few take the time to read or understand’.1 Non-specialists who have never seen a film by the director might still recognize the famous scene from The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet, 1957) where a knight plays chess with Death; the image has become emblematic of subtitled art cinema and has been endlessly spoofed and parodied.2 At the 2003 retrospective many screenings were sold out, and since most of Bergman’s work is available on DVD, it is evident that his films are still being seen. Yet what are the attractions of Persona today for film viewers from different cultures? And to what extent are viewers’ responses, today and in the 1960s, guided by the audio-visual properties of the film text itself as opposed to external factors, such as marketing and reviews?