Archive for publications, January 2014

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

Wed Jan 08 22:35:08 GMT 2014



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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