Cinematic Homecomings: Exile and Return in Transnational Cinema

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The history of cinema charts multiple histories of exile. From the German migrs in 1930s Hollywood to today's Iranian filmmakers in Europe and the United States, these histories continue to exert a profound influence on the evolution of cinematic narratives and aesthetics. But while the effect of exile and diaspora on film practice has been fruitfully explored from both historical and contemporary perspectives, the issues raised by return, whether literal or metaphorical, have yet to be fully considered. Cinematic Homecomings expands upon existing studies of transnational cinema by addressing the questions raised by reverse migration and the return home in a variety of historical and national contexts, from postcolonialism to post-Communism. By looking beyond exile, the contributors offer a multidirectional perspective on the relationship between migration, mobility, and transnational cinema. 'Narratives of return' are among the most popular themes of the contemporary cinema of countries ranging from Morocco to Cuba to the Soviet Union. This speaks to both the sociocultural reality of reverse migration and to its significance on the imagination of the nation.

Reviews

Rebecca Prime succeeds at assembling [the] texts in a flow that looks at nostalgia, identity, belong, State power and expectations from multiple angles, allowing complexity to unravel its layers in pleasurable readings. * New Review of Film and Television Studies *
A valuable tool for researchers in the field ... This volume is a significant contribution to a growing field, offering fresh insight into postexile and home, identity, and cinema both theoretically and within distinct contexts. * Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television *
A significant and timely contribution to the growing field of transnational cinema studies, this collection explores new directions and lines of inquiry into post-exilic narratives of return. Extending in scope from the silent era to the present, the essays gathered here bring a much-needed historical perspective to current debates about immigration, diaspora, and globalization. * Elizabeth Ezra, Professor of Cinema and Culture, The University of Stirling, UK *
Rebecca Prime has put her finger on an intriguing blank spot among filmic topoithe point of return, when the much-studied figures of exile, loss, nostalgia, and alienation are confronted with the persistent geopolitical realities of home. She shows not only how this trope brings to light many less known films and filmmakers, but also how it can refine and energize current thinking about national, transnational, and world cinemas. Admirably assembled, often with original documentation, Cinematic Homecomings is well worth its price and place on any film studies bookshelf. * Nataa Durovicov, Editor at the International Writing Program, The University of Iowa, USA, and co-editor of World Cinemas, Transnational Perspectives *
The chapters of this comprehensive anthology engage with canonical texts and theories of exile, diaspora and migration and make a compelling case for expanding the concept of exile beyond its original meaning of banishment from ones homeland to encompass other forms of transnational mobility that lead away from and back to a real or imaginary origin. Nuanced close readings of a wide range of films from different eras, countries and continents demonstrate with admirable clarity that (post-)exilic cinema is characterised by a distinctive affective and aesthetic response to this particular mode of dislocation. Cinematic Homecomings is a timely contribution to the buoyant field of transnational film studies and will serve as an excellent compendium for students and scholars for many years to come. * Daniela Berghahn, Professor of Film Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, and author of Far-Flung Families in Film: The Diasporic Family in Contemporary European Cinema *

Author Bio

Rebecca Prime is a film historian whose publications include Hollywood Exiles in Europe: the Blacklist and Cold War Film Culture (2014). A Fulbright scholar, she holds degrees from Columbia University, New York University, and the University of California, Los Angeles.