ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses a film catalogue titled Orient: A Survey of Films Produced in Countries of Arab and Asian Culture, published in 1959 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) together with the British Film Institute. It discusses the politically motivated negotiation processes and occasionally contradicting motives of the actors involved within a framework of the English School of world politics theory through their conceptual triad of international system, international society, and world society. It sheds light on the selection process of the films included in the catalogue through the example of Japan, the world’s most prolific film producer at the time and one of the main contributors to the catalogue. The chapter suggests that with the Orient catalogue, UNESCO aimed to manifest itself as a form of international society built on the ideals of peace, understanding, and solidarity.
