T H E N A I V E F I L M M A K E R

Straight of the bat, I’m going to say that I’ve been very misleading with the title of the article. To those of you who were interested in the various cinematic characters named Polly, I didn’t think the real title would attract many readers.

But you’re here now so you may as well finish this article. The main purpose of which is Personal Revision for my Global Cinema Course.

There are three Polly’s in reference to global cinema (although they’re not spelt with 2 L’s).

Polycentric Cinema

Polycentric film defies the traditional centre of either Hollywood or Europe. With the formation of World Cinema industries that compete with Hollywood. Bollywood and the Hong Kong Film industry are examples of First Cinema central film powers, however they are complimented by large film industries in Nigeria, China, Japan, France, etc.

All the above share the following features:

1. High levels of cinema activity: in 2015 India produced 1,966 films, Nollywood produced over 1,000 video titles.
2. The formation of their own spheres of influence within and without their own borders: e.g. Bollywood films popular films in the Middle East and Chinese films dominate South Asia 
3. A tradition of indigenous scholarship/ perspectives on their cinema’s

Polymorphic Cinema

This is the idea that films are no longer products of a nation, with the industry becoming more and more global as technology allows us to do so. Festivals are predominantly international with films being entered in several different countries, film financing is another example of how films cross barriers. For example quintessentially British film franchises like James Bond or Harry Potter are actually produced by American studios. Likewise many films are made as collaborations between countries like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000. Which was created by both American and Asian filmmakers.

Chloe Zhao, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu and Bong Joon-Ho are examples of directors who work outside of their own country, often creating films embody both the tactics of their heritage cinema and their new audiences. Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma 2018 brought traditions of Mexican cinema to a mainstream, western audience, being nominated for 10 Academy Awards . It is worth noting that many directors operate completely outside their own country and most of their audience is an international Art House movement. (Chloe Zhao and Abbas Kiarostami are both examples of this).

Vernacular Modernism is the theory that cinema is international and global, with filmmakers learning from each other and filmmaking changing together. For example Hollywood making Martial Arts films and Germany making Road Movies.

Polyvalent

Polyvalent film is a fascinating study of perception. The idea is that films are perceived differently by audiences of different countries. Sometimes this is just in analysis of film, for example Avatar (James Cameron 2009) in the UK it was often considered an allegory of European Settlers in America, while in Bolivia it was considered a film about resistance to Capitalism and the defence of Nature.

However sometimes this can be more about the popularity of the film. While Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle 2008) was a popular homage to Bollywood cinema in the UK, it was a widely panned misunderstanding of Bollywood by Indian audiences.

So that’s Polly, Polly and Polly all unpacked! Hope you found it interesting!