Film came to the territory that eventually became Israel not long after the medium was born. Casting a Giant Shadow is a collection of articles that embraces the notion of transnationalism to consider the limits of what is "Israeli" within Israeli cinema.
As the State of Israel developed, so did its film industries. Moving beyond the early films of the Yishuv, which focused on the creation of national identity, the industry and its transnational ties became more important as filmmakers and film stars migrated out and foreign films, filmmakers, and actors came to Israel to take advantage of high-quality production values and talent. This volume, edited by Rachel Harris and Dan Chyutin, uses the idea of transnationalism to challenge the concept of a singular definition of Israeli cinema.
Casting a Giant Shadow offers a new understanding of how cinema has operated artistically and structurally in terms of funding, distribution, and reception. The result is a thorough investigation of the complex structure of the transnational and its impact on national specificity when considered on the global stage.
About the Author :
Rachel S. Harris is Associate Professor of Comparative and World Literature at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is author of Warriors, Witches, Whores: Women in Israeli Cinema and An Ideological Death: Suicide in Israeli Literature.
Dan Chyutin is a Teaching Fellow at Tel Aviv University's Steve Tisch School of Film and TV and University of Haifa's MA Program in Film Culture. He has essays published or forthcoming in such peer-reviewed publications as Cinema Journal, Shofar, Journal of Film and Video, Jewish Film & New Media, Short Film Studies, and Journal of Jewish Identities.
Review :
"Casting a Giant Shadow provides, in anthology form, an excellent encyclopedic overview of how Israeli cinema—from its earliest days—has had transnational elements along with those that are specific to its national history and sensibility—addressing this broad topic in myriad imaginative ways. Clear and well-written, it is a major contribution to film studies."—Lucy Fischer, Distinguished Professor of English and Film Studies, University of Pittsburgh
"Casting a Giant Shadow will make you see Israeli films in an entirely new light. This new collection puts Israeli cinema squarely on a map of global markets and influences, from Cannon Films to K-cinema, from Westerns to New Extremism. This important book reflects shift towards the transnational in film studies."—Olga Gershenson, University of Massachusetts Amherst
