Stateless Cinema

The first full-length study to analyse the rise in refugee movement and its representation on screen in the twenty-first century.

As numbers of refugees have risen sharply over the last twenty years, so too has our ability to document this phenomenon on film. Stateless Cinema provides a critical survey of twenty-first century depictions of forced migration covering both mainstream and independent cinema, Virtual Reality, documentary, (non)citizen journalism and artist’s moving image.

Situated within current theoretical domains important for analyzing contemporary transnational image-making, this study offers an analysis of the representation of forced migrants on screen that draws on both evolving aspects of film theory and critical concepts in refugee studies. Orienting both students and scholars in the field, Stateless Cinema not only critically surveys the current landscape of refugee arts, but also sets the agenda for its analysis and research.