Introduction: New Perspectives on Film Policy

This chapter sets out the purpose of this volume: to investigate the changing nature of film policies in an era of globalisation and technological change and to identify the multiple—and intersecting—forms that they have assumed. In doing so, the volume also aims to broaden the debate about film policy. This involves questioning some of the conventional divisions—such as the economic versus the cultural and the national versus the transnational—that have historically governed the analysis of film policy, as well as exploring some of the ways in which film policies have become entwined with areas of public policy not traditionally associated with film (such as education, language, diversity, taxation and labour). In doing so, the chapter assesses some of the main economic and technological changes in the production, distribution, exhibition and consumption of film, considers some of the existing literature on film policy, identifies the aims of the volume and introduces the contents of individual chapters.