Roy Armes

an historical survey

Film and reality

New Voices in Arab Cinema focuses on contemporary filmmaking since the 1980s, but also considers the longer history of Arab cinema. Taking into consideration film from the Middle East and North Africa and giving a special nod to films produced since the Arab Spring and the Syrian crisis, Roy Armes explores themes such as modes of production, national cinemas, the role of the state and private industry on film, international developments in film, key filmmakers, and the validity of current notions like globalization, migration and immigration, and exile. This landmark book offers both a coherent, historical overview and an in-depth critical analysis of Arab filmmaking.

New Voices in Arab Cinema

French Cinema Since 1946: The personal style

French Cinema Since 1946: The great tradition

French Cinema Since 1946

Dictionary of North African Film Makers

Roots of the New Arab Film deals with the generation of filmmakers from across North Africa and the Middle East who created an international awareness of Arab film from the mid-1980s onwards. These seminal filmmakers experienced the moment of national independence first-hand in their youth and retained a deep attachment to their homeland. Although these aspiring filmmakers had to seek their training abroad, they witnessed a time of filmic revival in Europe – Fellini and Antonioni in Italy, the French New Wave, and British Free Cinema. Returning home, these filmmakers brought a unique insider/outsider perspective to bear on local developments in society since independence, including the divide between urban and rural communities, the continuing power of traditional values and the status of women in a changing society. As they made their first films back home, the feelings of participation in a worldwide movement of new, independent filmmaking was palpable. Roots of the New Arab Film is a necessary and comprehensive resource for anyone interested in the foundations of Arab cinema.

Roots of the New Arab Film

The concern of film theorists to read films as texts has led them to neglect the equally pressing need to see films as drama. Roy Armes sets out to redress the balance by drawing on the insights offered by recent developments in the theoretical study of drama and performance.

Dramatic Structure in Cinema

Action and Image

This volume is the first fully comprehensive account of film production in the Third World. Although they are usually ignored or marginalized in histories of world cinema," Third World countries now produce well over half of the world’s films. Roy Armes sets out initially to place this huge output in a wider context, examining the forces of tradition and colonialism that have shaped the Third World--defined as those countries that have emerged from Western control but have not fully developed their economic potential or rejected the capitalist system in favor of some socialist alternative. He then considers the paradoxes of social structure and cultural life in the post-independence world, where even such basic concepts as "nation," "national culture," and "language" are problematic. The first experience of cinema for such countries has invariably been that of imported Western films, which created the audience and, in most cases, still dominate the market today. Thus, Third World film makers have had to ssert their identity against formidable outside pressures. The later sections of the book look at their output from a number of angles: in terms of the stages of overall growth and corresponding stages of cinematic development; from the point of view of regional evolution in Asia, Africa, and Latin America; and through a detailed examination of the work of some of the Third World’s most striking film innovators. In addition to charting the broad outlines of filmic developments too little known in Europe and the United States, the book calls into question many of the assumptions that shape conventional film history. It stresse the role of distribution in defining and limiting production, queries simplistic notions of independent "national cinemas," and points to the need to take social and economic factors into account when considering authorship in cinema. Above all, the book celebrates the achievements of a mass of largely unknown film makers who, in difficult circumstances, have distinctively expanded our definitions of the art of cinema. Roy Armes, who lives in London, has written nine books on film, his most recent being French Cinema. He spent more than three years researching this volume.

Third World Film Making and the West

A critique of filmmaking in the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa by noted film scholar Roy Ames

North and South of the Sahara

African Filmmaking

Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922 2008) was a French writer and filmmaker. His first involvement with the cinema was in the early 1960's; scripting one of the most controversial films of the decade, L'Année dernière à Marienbad , directed by Alain Resnais. In this study the focus lies on the cinema of Robbe-Grillet . Each chapters deals with a specific film and a specific aspect of his work.

The Films of Alain Robbe-Grillet

In this landmark dictionary, Roy Armes details the scope and diversity of filmmaking across the Arab Middle East. Listing more than 550 feature films by more than 250 filmmakers, and short and documentary films by another 900 filmmakers, this volume covers the film production in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and the Gulf States. An introduction by Armes locates film and filmmaking traditions in the region from early efforts in the silent era to state-funded productions by isolated filmmakers and politically engaged documentarians. Part 1 lists biographical information about the filmmakers and their feature films. Part 2 details key feature films from the countries represented. Part 3 indexes feature-film titles in English and French with details about the director, date, and country of origin.

A Dictionary

Arab Filmmakers of the Middle East

Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922 –2008) was a French writer and filmmaker. His first involvement with the cinema was in the early 1960’s; scripting one of the most controversial films of the decade, L’Année dernière à Marienbad , directed by Alain Resnais. In this study the focus lies on the cinema of Robbe-Grillet . Each chapters deals with a specific film and a specific aspect of his work.

De l'Afrique du Sud au Zimbabwe en passant par l'Egypte, une filmographie, jusqu'alors inconnue, se glisse dans ces pages démontrant que le continent africain bruisse du doux défilement de la pellicule. Ce dictionnaire présente les films de long métrage (en 16 mm ou 35 mm, ou bien tournés en vidéo puis transférés - et distribués - sous ces formats) réalisés par des Africains en Afrique ou en exil. A l'époque où le cinématographe et ses successeurs furent introduits en Afrique - pas plus tard qu'en 1896 pour l'Algérie et l'Afrique du Sud. 1897 pour le Maroc et la Tunisie. 1903 pour le Nigeria - le continent souffrait des suites de la conférence de Berlin sur la partition de l'Afrique, qui avait eu lieu en 1894-1895. au cours de laquelle les états européens s'étaient partagé les empires africains.

Dictionnaire des cinéastes africains de long métrage

Though video systems are now growing ever more accessible, and practical video work is undertaken at every level of education, this is the first book-length historical and theoretical study of the medium. On Video explores video on two levels: first, it examines the relationship between technology and society; and second, it probes the connection between production methods and the communication of meaning.

On Video

Looks at film making in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, discusses the influence of films made in the West, and analyzes the work of prominent directors

Roy Armes

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