ReFocus: The Films of Rachid Bouchareb: (ReFocus: The International Directors Series)

About the Book

ReFocus: The Films of Rachid Bouchareb is the first book-length study of the internationally recognized director's films. Bouchareb was one of France's first filmmakers of North African descent and his career as a director and producer now spans over 35 years. Remarkably varied in their themes, formal elements and narrative settings, Bouchareb's work has engaged with and reflected on a variety of crucial social, political and historical issues; from the role of colonial troops in the French army during the Second World War, to terrorism in contemporary Europe. This volume examines Bouchareb's films from an interdisciplinary perspective, exploring key influences on his output and considering new theoretical approaches to his filmmaking.

Table of Contents:
Illustrations A Note on Translations Contributors Acknowledgments 　 Introduction Rachid Bouchareb: A Global French Filmmaker Michael Gott and Leslie Kealhofer-Kemp 　 I: A Multidimensional Oeuvre 　 Rachid Bouchareb’s Cinema as a ‘Vehicle for Encounters’: Cultural Mixings and the Pre-Production Process Leslie Kealhofer-Kemp The Road from Baton Rouge: Mapping Rachid Bouchareb’s Transnational Mobile Movies Michael Gott Questions of Gender and Embodiment in the Intimiste Films of Rachid Bouchareb Kaya Davies Hayon Genre and Universalism in the Films of Rachid Bouchareb David Pettersen The American Dimensions of Rachid Bouchareb’s Cinema Nabil Boudraa and Ahmed Bedjaoui We Could Be Heroes: ‘Arabs’ Becoming Brave in Rachid Bouchareb’s Cinema Julien Gaertner Globalisation, Cinema, and Terrorism in Rachid Bouchareb’s Films: London River, Baton Rouge and Little Senegal Mireille RoselloII: Case Studies　 Aesthetics of Confinement: Space, Memento Mori, and the Recording of History in Rachid Bouchareb’s Poussières de vie/Dust of Life Michael O’Riley The Door of No Return: A Cinema of (Up)rooting and Decentring in Rachid Bouchareb’s Little Senegal Gemma King Rachid Bouchareb’s Hors la loi/Outside the Law: A Lesson in History, Reception and Artistic Licence Jennifer Howell Postcolonial Feminism, Gender, and Genre in Rachid Bouchareb’s Just like a Woman Anne Donadey Relations of Disjuncture in a ‘World-in-Motion’: Rachid Bouchareb’s La Voie de l'ennemi/Two Men in Town Valérie K. Orlando Appendix: Filmography of Rachid Bouchareb Index

About the Author :
Michael Gott is Associate Professor of French and Film and Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati, where he teaches courses in European Studies, Film and Media Studies, and French-language culture and cinema. He is the author of French-language Road Cinema: Borders, Diasporas and 'New Europe' (EUP, 2016) and co-edited Cinema-monde: Decentred Perspectives on Global Filmmaking in French (EUP, 2018), Open Roads, Closed Borders: the Contemporary French-Language Road Movie (Intellect, 2013) and East, West and Centre: Reframing European Cinema Since 1989 (EUP, 2014). Leslie Kealhofer-Kemp is Associate Professor of French and Film at the University of Rhode Island and the author of Muslim Women in French Cinema: Voices of Maghrebi Migrants in France (Liverpool University Press, 2015). Her research focuses on representations of minority-ethnic characters in French cinema and on television, as well as on the films and careers of actors and actresses of North and West African descent in France.

Review :
This remarkable volume offers a necessary study on a filmmaker whose name is firmly established in the French cinematic landscape, while bringing into light new perspectives to approach his work, as well as his lesser-studied films. The reader will also appreciate the engagement with aspects — beyond his film corpus — involved in filmmaking, namely the production, distribution, and reception of his work. While the collection focuses on Bouchareb, this volume will be useful as an analytical tool to study other filmmakers. With this politically astute, wide-ranging collection, Bouchareb finally gets his critical due. He is revealed brilliantly as a pivotal figure in French cinema reinvesting genres to challenge the official scripts of colonial history and immigration, as well as ethnic conflict and terrorism, and promote a more inclusive national identity.