ReFocus: The Films of Rachid Bouchareb

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 Cinéma-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.

• Illustrations A Note on Translations ContributorsAcknowledgments　IntroductionRachid Bouchareb: A Global French FilmmakerMichael 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-KempThe Road from Baton Rouge: Mapping Rachid Bouchareb’s Transnational Mobile MoviesMichael Gott Questions of Gender and Embodiment in the Intimiste Films of Rachid BoucharebKaya Davies HayonGenre and Universalism in the Films of Rachid BoucharebDavid PettersenThe American Dimensions of Rachid Bouchareb’s CinemaNabil Boudraa and Ahmed BedjaouiWe Could Be Heroes: ‘Arabs’ Becoming Brave in Rachid Bouchareb’s CinemaJulien Gaertner Globalisation, Cinema, and Terrorism in Rachid Bouchareb’s Films: London River, Baton Rouge and Little SenegalMireille RoselloII: Case Studies　Aesthetics of Confinement: Space, Memento Mori, and the Recording of History in Rachid Bouchareb’s Poussières de vie/Dust of LifeMichael O’RileyThe Door of No Return: A Cinema of (Up)rooting and Decentring in Rachid Bouchareb’s Little SenegalGemma King Rachid Bouchareb’s Hors la loi/Outside the Law: A Lesson in History, Reception and Artistic Licence Jennifer HowellPostcolonial Feminism, Gender, and Genre in Rachid Bouchareb’s Just like a Woman Anne DonadeyRelations of Disjuncture in a ‘World-in-Motion’: Rachid Bouchareb’s La Voie de l'ennemi/Two Men in Town Valérie K. OrlandoAppendix: Filmography of Rachid Bouchareb Index

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.