Due to the ongoing pandemic, this collection co-edited with Dr. Laura Canning, Falmouth University, had an unusual ‘launch’ in the lecturer’s home garden, as the photos illustrate. An official ceremony will be held, after the pandemic, at DkIT. This book arrives only two years after another launch by the same lecturer of her monograph “Women in European Holocaust Films: Perpetrators, Victims and Resisters” (Palgrave Macmillan). This successful event, inaugurated by DkIT President Dr. Michael Mulvey in April 2018, featured among its distinguished guest scholars Professor Barry Langford, Head of Film Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London.

This book rethinks the study of European Cinema in a way that centres on students and their needs, in a comprehensive volume introducing undergraduates to the main discourses, directions and genres of twenty-first-century European film. Importantly, this collection is the first of its kind to apply a transversal approach to European Cinema, bringing together the East and the West, while providing a broad picture of key trends, aesthetics, genres, national identities, and transnational concerns. Lewis and Canning’s collection effectively addresses some of the most pressing questions in contemporary European film, such as ecology, migration, industry, identity, disability, memory, auteurship, genre, small cinemas, and the national and international frameworks which underpin them. Combining accessible original research with a thorough grounding in recent histories and contexts, this book makes a strong contribution to our understanding of European Cinema, making it an invaluable resource for lecturers and students across a variety of film-centred modules. 

A true constellation of riveting topics and essays written by authors who represent Europe’s true diversity: East and West, North and South.

-Dina Iordanova, Professor of Global Cinema and Creative Cultures, University of St Andrews, Scotland

Drawing on a rich tradition of film scholarship, this book provides a timely geographical and critical historical map for decoding European cinema.

-Pat Brereton, Professor of Film Studies, Dublin City University, Ireland

This book uniquely places Eastern European cinema in co-equal dialogue with Western European cinema, addressing a gap in current studies.

-Maria Flood, Lecturer in Film Studies, Keele University, UK

Dr. Ingrid Lewis points to her students as the primary motivation for this new book on European Cinema.

After my academic study on the representation of women in Holocaust films and a photo cookbook of regional dessert recipes from the north of Romania, this third book is clearly a project designed with my students in mind, especially those of European Cinema.” As the lecturer and her co-editor mention in the book acknowledgements: “Being a teacher is a wonderful calling and a great responsibility at the same time. We would thus like to thank all our students for inspiring both our research and work in the classroom, for helping us to become, day by day, better teachers.”

Furthermore, Dr. Ingrid Lewis takes this opportunity to express her gratitude to all staff members, employers and colleagues, in the School of Informatics and Creative Arts, especially Dr. Gerard (Bob) McKiernan and Dr. Adèle Commins. As she states:

It has been a great joy and a privilege to be part of such a vibrant and supportive work environment over the past few years since I joined DkIT”. 

In relation to the new book, Dr. Gerard (Bob) McKiernan, Head of School of Informatics and Creative Arts mentions:

Congratulations to Ingrid. We are very proud in our School of Ingrid’s continuing scholarly research on European Cinema, the future study of which has been greatly enhanced by this, her latest book.”

Similarly, Dr. Adèle Commins, Head of Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music states:

I would like to congratulate Ingrid on her wonderful contribution to Film Studies which will be of great benefit to colleagues in our Department and also to academics working in Film Studies internationally.”

Dr. Ingrid Lewis will continue to promote this book, despite the pandemic, at various online conferences and events.