This volume represents a notable attempt to synthesize the various artistic and production realities characterizing European cinematography from its earliest days to the end of the twentieth century, and is also an attempt to offer new interpretation methods for defining the very concept of ‘European cinema’. On the one hand, it elaborates a framework taking into account the various forces in play: cinema professionals, the production routine, artistic trends, technological advances, legislative contexts and market forces (Chapter 10, ‘Pubblico, industrie e utopie’, pp. 151-169), in an attempt to identify initiatives deployed to favour European cinematography as a whole. On the other, it traces the hidden currents through which European identity takes form through cinema or the work of critics, audiences, filmmakers and screenwriters (Chapter 9, ‘Incontri, osmosi, simbiosi: Le coppie di autori’, pp. 133-150). Particular attention is given to artistic expression betraying connotations of identity, such as those genres the volume calls ‘autochthonous genres’ (Chapter 6, ‘Lo specchio del passato, lo spettro del presente: I generi “autoctoni”’, pp. 82-99), as these give value to indigenous culture heritage and shared imaginary worlds. Another key point of definition is identified in the experimentalism that accompanies individual countries’ cinema industries (Chapter 5, ‘L’onda del nuovo nel Vecchio Continente’, pp. 64-81). Whatever path is chosen, American cinema represents an unavoidable dialectic term for European cinema in terms of both production and theory, and this reveals itself in the experiences of actors, critics and audiences (Chapter. 2, ‘America, “americano” e americanate: Hollywood secondo gli europei’, pp. 14-29).
