The mainstreaming of diasporic European cinema: from ethnic niche to popular genre

Description

As many diasporic filmmakers are shedding what Kobena Mercer has called ‘the burden of representation’, addressing themes that do not relate to their ethnic background, distinctions between ‘diasporic’ and ‘cosmopolitan’ filmmaking are becoming increasingly fluid. Whereas diasporic filmmakers tend to reject the label ‘diasporic’, associated with postcolonial and labour migration, they readily self-identify themselves as ‘cosmopolitan’ with its more elitist connotations. There is also a growing tendency to frame narratives about diasporic ethnic minority subjects as genre cinema which ensures the cross-over appeal of films such as Bouchareb's war film Days of Glory.

Invited Plenary Speaker at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. International conference Cosmopolitan Cinema: Arts and Politics in the Second Modernity.

Period	3 Apr 2014 → 5 Apr 2014
Event type	Other
Sponsor