Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book invites academics to critically engage with the transnational through streamed content accessible via online platforms in addition to traditional film productions exhibited in cinemas. It presents two cases studies: the first one analyses the concept of ‘soft power’ in relation to Chinese cinema and the US. The second case study considers trends, which the author terms ‘the new wave of slow cinema, the new genre of ecocinema, and the new ethos of poor cinema’. The book interrogates scholarly canon formation and the relationship between the turn to world cinema, and the transnational turn within Film Studies. It reflects on how films from around the world, broadcast on Polish and British television in the late twentieth century, introduced the authors to the concept of foreignness.