ABSTRACT
Studying cinema is one of the most interesting and rewarding activities. Feature films have the ability to relate to our daily life in ways that are almost frighteningly accurate, and yet can also be wondrous flights of fantasy that free people from the stresses and strains of our daily lives. While film theory has covered a wide range of issues relating to cinema, it has also left certain arenas relatively understudied. The context of production, distribution, and exhibition is one of those areas. The approaches that investigate these elements of cinema provide yet another definition, namely, that cinema is more than pictures on the screen, but involves network of relationships that stretch from local sites of exhibition to global political and economic maneuvering. The author speaks from his personal experience, that incorporation of film theory into anthropology was not only interesting in its own right, but also opened vistas of meaning and analytical depth to own research.
