Greek Cinema and Migration examines the ways in which the cinema of Greece has responded to the post-1990s phenomenon of becoming a host country for immigrants. The book focuses mainly on migration from Albania that dominated social discourse and cinematic representation in the 1990s and 2000s, but also sheds light on cinematic responses to the mid-2010s ‘refugee crisis’. Placing contemporary Greek cinema within the context of European film production and transnational cinema, the book explores the fascination of Greek filmmakers with migration, mobility, borders and identity between 1991 and ... More

Greek Cinema and Migration examines the ways in which the cinema of Greece has responded to the post-1990s phenomenon of becoming a host country for immigrants. The book focuses mainly on migration from Albania that dominated social discourse and cinematic representation in the 1990s and 2000s, but also sheds light on cinematic responses to the mid-2010s ‘refugee crisis’. Placing contemporary Greek cinema within the context of European film production and transnational cinema, the book explores the fascination of Greek filmmakers with migration, mobility, borders and identity between 1991 and 2016. With case studies such as The Suspended Step of the Stork (1991), The Way to the West (2003) and many more, Greek Cinema and Migration provides an in-depth understanding of contemporary Greek cinema and its direct correlation to the country’s struggles to implement European modernity. It tackles important questions on identity and representation, highlighting the role of migrants as constitutive ‘others’ who help to redefine national identity in times of encroaching globalization. The book raises in addition important questions on representations of migrants and refugees in film and mainstream media, focusing primarily on the role of migrant-related violence and its links to both humanitarianism and the agenda of the Far Right which gained a strong footing in crisis-era Greece. The author thus argues that migrants and refugees appear as either perpetrators or victims of violence in an intolerant host society, strengthening thus the role of stereotypes – both negative and positive.