This volume provides a comprehensive introduction to the critical debates around the heritage film, from its controversial status in British cinema of the 1980s to its expansion into a versatile international genre in the 1990s and 2000s. This study explores the heritage film in light of questions of national identity in film and television, industry and funding, and history, gender and representation. Using a wide range of examples and including an in-depth analysis of three case studies - Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), Joyeux Noel (2005) and The Queen (2006) - this book presents the heritage film as a thriving phenomenon at the centre of contemporary European cinema.

About the Author
Belen Vidal is Lecturer in Film Studies at King's College London. She is the co-editor of Cinema at the Periphery (2010) and the author of Figuring the Past: Period Film and the ManneristA AestheticA (2012).

Reviews
The elusive and amorphous nature of the heritage film is adeptly brought into focus by this lucid discussion of the debates surrounding one of the most contested concepts in film and television studies... An invaluable introduction for students of national identity in film and television period drama. -- Pam Cook, University of Southampton This series is tailor-made for modular approach to film studies... An indispensable tool for both lecturers and students. -- Paul Willemen, University of Ulster ...an excellent survey of the existing academic literature on the subject... -- Giacomo Boitani Journal of American Studies of Turkey



Book Information
ISBN 9780231162036
Author Belen Vidal
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Wallflower Press
Publisher Columbia University Press