Fourteen Years with Boss


Book Description

Reminiscing of a time long lost, Fourteen Years with Boss gives a delightful insight into the workings of the Gemini Studios of Madras—one of the most influential film-producing organizations in India—and its founder, the brilliant and multifaceted S. S. Vasan. Filled with vivid sketches of actors, extras, directors and the ‘boss’, Ashokamitran recreates life at the studio so that it materializes in the reader’s mind with the perfect balance of humour and nostalgia.




Andy Warhol's Blow Job


Book Description

In this ground-breaking and provocative book, Roy Grundmann contends that Andy Warhol's notorious 1964 underground film, Blow Job, serves as rich allegory as well as suggestive metaphor for post-war American society's relation to homosexuality. Arguing that Blow Job epitomizes the highly complex position of gay invisibility and visibility, Grundmann uses the film to explore the mechanisms that constructed pre-Stonewall white gay male identity in popular culture, high art, science, and ethnography. Grundmann draws on discourses of art history, film theory, queer studies, and cultural studies to situate Warhol's work at the nexus of Pop art, portrait painting, avant-garde film, and mainstream cinema. His close textual analysis of the film probes into its ambiguities and the ways in which viewers respond to what is and what is not on screen. Presenting rarely reproduced Warhol art and previously unpublished Ed Wallowitch photographs along with now iconic publicity shots of James Dean, Grundmann establishes Blow Job as a consummate example of Warhol's highly insightful engagement with a broad range of representational codes of gender and sexuality. Roy Grundmann is Assistant Professor of Film Studies at Boston University and a contributing editor of Cineaste.




Yojana September 2022 (English) (Special Issue)


Book Description

YOJANA is a monthly journal devoted to the socio-economic issues. It started its publication in 1957 with Mr. Khuswant Singh as the Chief Editor. The magazine is now published in 13 languages viz. English, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia.




TRYST WITH FILMS


Book Description

Tryst with Films is about how a rank outsider ventures into the film industry without any knowledge of filmmaking and how he becomes a film producer, writer and then a director too! It depicts how he becomes known in the film line, meets the cream of the industry, works with the topmost actors, befriends them and then how ups and downs affect him.




Showing Off, Showing Up


Book Description

The interdisciplinary essays in Showing Off, Showing Up examine acts of showing, a particular species of performance that relies on competition and judgment, active spectatorship, embodied excess, and exposure of core values and hidden truths. Acts of showing highlight those dimensions of performance that can most manipulate spectators and consumers, often through over-the-top heightening and skewing of presentation. Many forms of showing and of heightened performance, however, operate more enigmatically and covertly while still profoundly affecting the social world, even if our reactions to them are initially flippant or unconcerned because “it’s just a show.” Examining a wide range of examples—from dog shows to competitive dancing to carnivals to striptease, the essays illuminate how such events variously foster competition, exaggerate a characteristic, and reveal hidden truths. There is as much to be learned about the power of showing through subtlety and underlying intentionality as through overt display. The book’s theoretical introduction and 12 essays by leading scholars reveal how diverse, particularly efficacious genres of showing are theoretically connected and why they merit more concerted attention, especially in the 21st century.




Indian Horror Cinema


Book Description

This book studies the hitherto overlooked genre of horror cinema in India. It uncovers some unique and diverse themes that these films deal with, including the fear of the unknown, the supernatural, occult practices, communication with spirits of the deceased, ghosts, reincarnation, figures of vampires, zombies, witches and transmutations of human beings into non-human forms such as werewolves. It focusses on the construction of feminine and masculine subjectivities in select horror films across seven major languages – Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bangla, Marathi and Malayalam. The author shows that the alienation of the body and bodily functions through the medium of the horror film serves to deconstruct stereotypes of caste, class, gender and anthropocentrism. Some riveting insights emerge thus, such as the masculinist undertow of the possession narrative and how complex structures of resistance accompany the anxieties of culture via the dread of laughter. This original account of Indian cinematic history is accessible yet strongly analytical and includes an exhaustive filmography. The book will interest scholars and researchers in film studies, media and cultural studies, art, popular culture and performance, literature, gender, sociology, South Asian studies, practitioners, filmmakers as well as cinephiles.




Italian Giallo in Film and Television


Book Description

Since the release in 1929 of a popular book series with bright yellow covers, the Italian word giallo (yellow) has come to define a whole spectrum of mystery and detective fiction and films. Although most English speakers associate the term giallo with the violent and erotic thrillers popular in the 1960s and 1970s from directors like Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci and others, the term encompasses a wide range of Italian media such as mysteries, thrillers and detective stories--even comedies and political pamphlets. As films like Blood and Black Lace (1964) and Deep Red (1975) have received international acclaim, giallo is a fluid and dynamic genre that has evolved throughout the decades. This book examines the many facets of the giallo genre --narrative, style, themes, and influences. It explores Italian films, made-for-TV films and miniseries from the dawn of sound cinema to the present, discussing their impact on society, culture and mores.




Empathetic Space on Screen


Book Description

In this book we learn that there is a clear but complex relationship between setting and character on screen. Certain settings stand out above others—think of the iconic gooey dripping tunnels that Ripley stumbles through in Aliens, Norman’s bird-decorated parlour in Psycho or the dark Gotham of certain Batman movies. But what makes these particular settings so powerful and iconic? Amedeo D’Adamo explains why we care about and cry for certain characters, and then focuses on how certain places then become windows onto their emotional lives. Using popular case studies such as Apocalypse Now, Amelie, Homeland and The Secret Garden, this original and insightful book is the first to really explain what makes some settings so effective, revealing an important but as yet uncovered machinery of empathy in visual narrative space. An invaluable resource for students, academics and indeed young filmmakers designing their very own narratives for space on screen.




Halle Berry


Book Description

This volume provides readers with a balanced biographical overview of actress Halle Berry. Chapters discuss her early life experiences as a biracial child, her first acting roles, and her rise to stardom as an Oscar winner. The book also discusses Berry's public relationships and divorces, and her experiences as a mother.




Ten Arab Filmmakers


Book Description

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