Articulations of national identity in the bylaws of film subsidy institutions in Switzerland, Belgium and Canada
Type
presentation
Date Issued
2010-03-22
Author(s)
Abstract
Defining the "national" in cinema is a difficult task. It gets even more complicated if one takes into account multilingual and thus multicultural nations such as Switzerland, Belgium and Canada. In this paper I explore the peculiarities of the concept of national cinema in the francophone regions of these three countries. I approach the issue by way of taking a closer look at the bylaws of film subsidy institutions and asking how they articulate questions of national and cultural identity. My hypothesis is that the declared aim to foster national identity in cinema is jeopardized by the proximity of French cinema, especially in Belgium and Switzerland whereas Quebec regional cinema comes closest to an autonomous national cinema, although being a part of Canadian national cinema. The bylaws of the film subsidy institutions focus on the definition of a film's nationality, which turns out to be closely linked to the individual nationalities and linguistic competences of the creative personnel of the production team. The bylaws do not define any criteria for the actual content of the screenplays, the nation-state thus doesn't regulate what might be a 'national story'. This points to the fact that it is the collectivity of individuals that form a 'national production team' and thus represent the nation and its identity.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Event Title
ASCA International Workshop 2010
Event Location
Amsterdam
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
61327