Screening European Heritage

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxxiv

   PDF

2. Contexts of Production

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. The Politics and Sociology of Screening the Past: A National and Transnational Perspective

      • Ib Bondebjerg

      Pages 3-24

   3. British Flanders: Co-produced Television Drama and the Limits of a European Heritage

      • Jaap Verheul

      Pages 25-44

   4. Whose Heritage?: Noi credevamo (We Believed) and the National, Regional and Transnational Dynamics of the Risorgimento Film

      • Alex Marlow-Mann

      Pages 45-60

3. Limits of Representation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 61-61

      PDF

   2. Towards World Heritage Cinema (Starting from the Negative)

      • Alan O’Leary

      Pages 63-84

   3. Rewriting History from the Margins: Diasporic Memory, Shabby Chic and Archival Footage

      • Daniela Berghahn

      Pages 85-106

   4. Facing Dark Heritage: The Legacy of Nazi Perpetrators in German-Language Film

      • Axel Bangert

      Pages 107-126

   5. Spectral Spanish Heritage: The Hauntology of La noche de los girasoles (The Night of the Sunflowers)

      • Paul Mitchell

      Pages 127-143

   6. Adapting Balzac in Jacques Rivette’s Ne Touchez pas la hache (Don’t Touch the Axe): Violence and the Post-Heritage Aesthetic

      • Andrew Watts

      Pages 145-162

   7. The Ironic Gaze: Roots Tourism and Irish Heritage Cinema

      • Ruth Barton

      Pages 163-179

4. Modes of Consumption

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 181-181

      PDF

   2. Historical Films in Europe: The Transnational Production, Circulation and Reception of ‘National’ Heritage Drama

      • Andrew Higson

      Pages 183-207

   3. From ‘English’ Heritage to Transnational Audiences: Fan Perspectives and Practices and Why They Matter

      • Claire Monk

      Pages 209-234

   4. From ‘Auschwitz-land’ to Banglatown: Heritage Conflicts, Film and the Politics of Place

      • Paul Cooke

      Pages 235-255

   5. Cinematic Pilgrimages: Postmodern Heritage Cinema

      • Rob Stone

      Pages 257-278

5. Back Matter

   Pages 279-290

   PDF

This book provides a unique examination of the way Europe’s past is represented on contemporary screens and what this says about contemporary cultural attitudes to history. How do historical dramas come to TV and cinema screens across Europe? How is this shaped by the policies and practices of cultural institutions, from media funding boards to tourist agencies and heritage sites? Who watches these productions and how are they consumed in cinemas, on TV and online?, are just some of the questions this volume seeks to answer. From The Lives of Others to Game of Thrones, historical dramas are a particularly visible part of mainstream European film production, often generating major national debates on the role of the past in contemporary national identity construction.

• History
• Heritage
• Tourism
• Cultural Policy
• Film
• Television
• Europe
• Media
• Creative
• Second World War
• European Union
• Eurimages
• film
• history
• media
• media studies
• politics

• University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

  Paul Cooke

• University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

  Rob Stone

Professor Paul Cooke is Centenary Chair of World Cinemas at the University of Leeds, UK. He has written on world cinema’s engagement with Hollywood and on the legacy of both National Socialism and the GDR in contemporary German culture. He is currently developing a series of community filmmaking projects exploring the ‘dark heritage’ of Germany and South Africa.


Professor Rob Stone is Chair of European Cinema and Professor of Film Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is the author of several volumes on Spanish cinema, the political and cultural history of Basque cinema, flamenco and film, Surrealism and the cinema of Richard Linklater.

Policies and ethics