ABSTRACT
To claim that there has been a convergence on transnational emphases in the study of film over the past two decades is to state the obvious. Far less obvious are the reasons for this convergence, for underwriting what looks like a newfound consensus regarding the centrality of transnationalism to film are quite diverse commitments. Especially prominent in the midst of this diversity are epistemological concerns about the lack of evidence for some of the preferred narratives generated by a previously taken-for-granted national cinemas model. Thus, for example, the commitment to transnationalism finds expression in revisionist accounts of early cinema, with attention being drawn to filmmakers’ border-crossing mobility from the very beginning of film’s history, and to their designs, all along, on audiences situated well beyond a given national space. 1
