The Janovics Award for Outstanding Humanities Research in Transnational Film and Theatre

The Janovics Center for Screen and Performing Arts Studies is affiliated with the Faculty of Theater and Film at Babeș-Bolyai University (Romania). It aims to advance interdisciplinary research in the fields of performing and screen arts: theatre, performing arts, film, television and media.

An international jury selected the book Exotic Cinema: Encounters with Cultural Difference in Contemporary Transnational Film (Edinburgh University Press) as the best book published in the field of transnational film and theatre in 2023.

"The Jury commends the monograph as an outstanding example of transnational film studies research, which analyzes many films from various continents and regions of the globe. Berghahn’s meticulous scholarship, comprehensive writing, and well-constructed argument are praised for decentering concepts such as the exotic and exoticism, inviting readers to rethink them. The book moves away from the received wisdom of exoticism, too often coupled with orientalism and colonial power, and offers an original and insightful look at what the notion means today. With a profound understanding of the literature in her field, Berghahn offers a courageous critical reassessment of the aesthetic strategies and cultural value of exoticism against competing concepts describing cross-cultural encounters, such as orientalism, colonialism, primitivism, imperialism, and cultural appropriation. Her case studies are meticulously discussed and offer a multifaceted picture not just of individual films but also of their production context and reception.”