[ecrea] New book announcement: The Cinema of Michael Winterbottom

My new book on the films and TV productions of Michael Winterbottom has 
just been published by Wallflower/Columbia University Press in their 
Directors' Cuts series, and is available both as an ebook and in hard 
copies.


(http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-16736-9/the-cinema-of-michael-winterbottom)





Bruce Bennett, The Cinema of Michael Winterbottom: Borders, Intimacy, Terror

This comprehensive study of prolific British filmmaker Michael 
Winterbottom explores the thematic, stylistic, and intellectual 
consistencies running through his eclectic and controversial body of 
work. This volume undertakes a close analysis of a TV series directed by 
Winterbottom and sixteen of his films ranging from television dramas to 
transnational co-productions featuring Hollywood stars, and from 
documentaries to costume films. The critique is centred on 
Winterbottom’s collaborative working practices, political and cultural 
contexts, and critical reception. Arguing that his work delineates a 
‘cinema of borders’, this study examines Winterbottom's treatment of 
sexuality, class, ethnicity, and national and international politics, as 
well as his quest to adequately narrate inequality, injustice, and violence.

“In The Cinema of Michael Winterbottom, Bruce Bennett offers a tour de 
force examination of the regimes of visibility and invisibility in the 
British director's rich and heterogeneous body of work, exploring the 
ways in which these films traverse and question the political, 
institutional, and aesthetic boundaries of the nation. Seducing his 
readers with eloquence and methodological rigor, Bennett analyzes the 
complexity of Winterbottom's cinema through a careful look at the 
interrelated themes of borderlands, abject border zones, ideologies of 
race and violence, intimacy, the politics of mobility, and the War on 
Terror. This is a brilliant, highly readable book that offers an 
insightful commentary on the intricacies of the political climate we 
live in.”

- Katarzyna Marciniak, Ohio University



“Bruce Bennett's book provides an excellent introduction to the work of 
one of Britain's most intriguing and impressive current filmmakers, 
fully acknowledging the breadth and variety of Winterbottom's body of 
work while also making a persuasive case for its underlying ideological 
and aesthetic coherence. Indispensable for anyone interested in 
contemporary British film.”


- Melanie Williams, University of East Anglia




“Bennett's book offers both lucid commentary and penetrating thematic 
analysis of Winterbottom's films. An innovative and exciting director 
here receives the kind of thoughtful and thought-provoking attention he 
deserves in a thoroughly excellent contribution to the Directors' Cuts 
series.”


- Derek Paget, University of Reading





Bruce Bennett is Director of Film Studies at Lancaster University. He is 
co-editor of Cinema and Technology: Cultures, Theories, Practices 
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). Other publications include articles on 3D 
cinema, celebrity culture, photography, Georges Bataille, the cinema of 
James Cameron and the Hollywood blockbuster, and the war on terror in 
film and television.




Dr Bruce Bennett

Director of Film Studies

Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts

Lancaster University

Bailrigg

Lancaster LA1 4YW

United Kingdom

+44 (0) 1524 594753

New book: The Cinema of Michael Winterbottom (http://goo.gl/9Mh2uT)

Homepage: http://goo.gl/b8CSY9

Blog: http://btbennett.wordpress.com



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