Critical Filmographies of World Cinema

A unique collaborative venture in scholarly publishing, caboose’s Critical Filmographies of World Cinema series recounts national film histories in a way unlike any other project: through individual films. Each volume will contain 75-125 entries of 1000 words in length, written by leading scholars in the field and complete with extensive technical credits. These national film histories will begin with the earliest surviving—or lost—silent films from the turn of the twentieth century and include documentaries, shorts, animation, cult films and popular and auteur feature films up to the present day, providing a lively and novel account of national film history. Larger film-producing countries will be treated in several volumes by era.

Together, the volumes, richly illustrated with archival photographs, will form a history of world cinema, providing a wealth of information and analysis for film scholars and cinephiles alike, in addition to those who use film to study national histories and global social, political and cultural issues. The highly synthetic essays will place each film in its social, political, cultural and social context as well as provide a succinct appraisal of the film’s aesthetic importance and discuss topics as diverse as the film’s production and exhibition history, literary sources and relationship to other arts and to national cultural traditions; pertinent biographical information about the film’s director and other personnel; international co-productions and markets; censorship; spectatorship; the film’s political and social impact; critical and theoretical appraisals; etc. Following each volume’s publication, its editor will continue to submit occasional entries, to be posted on the publisher’s web site as a way of keeping the project up to date.

Titles in preparation (select the title to read a description and a sample):