Late-Colonial French Cinema: Filming the Algerian War of Independence Mani Sharpe 9781474414227

Offers a sustained analysis of a cluster of French films made during, and in response to, the Algerian War of Independence Identifies and analyses a previously unidentified trend in modern French cinema Addresses a 'late-colonial' gap in scholarship on cultural histories of de-colonisation, between the colonial and the post-colonial Defines late-colonial cinema as trans-generic 'body' of films, bound up with various cinematic traditions and tendencies, including the French New Wave, film noir, the World War Two combat film, observational documentaries, Soviet Montage cinema, parallel cinema, and settler cinema Combines textual analysis of fifteen case studies with contextual analysis of late-colonial French culture, politics and society Deploys a different critical approach in each chapter. These include star studies, documentary studies, gender studies and space studies, among others Deploying the term 'late-colonial' to describe a body of largely French films made during, and in response to, the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962), this book revolves around one question what is late-colonial French cinema? generating two answers. Firstly, Sharpe argues that late-colonial cinema represents a formally and thematically important, yet unappreciated tendency in French cinema; one that has largely been overshadowed by a scholarly focus on the French New Wave. Secondly, Sharpe contends that whilst late-colonial French cinema cannot be seen as a coherent cinematic movement, school of filmmaking, or genre, it can be seen as a coherent ethical trend, with many of the fifteen central case studies explored in Late-colonial French Cinema filtering the Algerian War of Independence through a discourse of 'redemptive pacifism'.

About the Author
Mani Sharpe is a Lecturer in Film in the Centre for World Cinemas and Digital Cultures at the University of Leeds. He is the author of several articles on late-colonial French cinema, having published in French Studies, Journal of European Studies, Journal of War and Culture Studies, and Studies in French Cinema, amongst others.

Reviews
"In this expertly written book, Mani Sharpe uncovers a buried web of French late-colonial film. A varied array of shorts and features expose and dissimulate a dissolving French-Algeria. Sharpe's exploration of masculinity and militantism in these resurfacing artifacts demands our immediate attention." -Nicole Beth Wallenbrock, City University of New York



Book Information
ISBN 9781474414227
Author Mani Sharpe
Format Hardback
Page Count 280
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press
Series Traditions in World Cinema