Cinema Audiences and Modernity：New perspectives on European cinema history

"The contributions to this volume reflect on the very different ways in which cinema has been accepted, rejected or disciplined as an agent of modernity in neighbouring parts of Europe and how cinema going has been promoted and regulated as a popular social practice at different times in twentieth-century history." This quote is from a brief introductory statement provided by the three editors, who are affiliated as follows: Daniel Biltereyst (Ghent U., Belgium), Richard Maltby (Finders U., South Australia), and Philippe Meers (U. of Antwerp, Belgium). Their discussion of the approach to film studies that focuses on audiences, reception, and regulation is followed by 12 contributed chapters looking closely at these themes in various countries, contexts, and time periods. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Daniel Biltereyst is Professor in Film, Television and Cultural Studies at the Department of Communication Studies, Ghent University, Belgium, where he leads the Centre for Cinema and Media Studies (CIMS). His research on film and screen culture as sites of controversy and censorship has been published in Cultural Policy, European Journal of Cultural Studies, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Journal of Communication Inquiry, Media, Culture & Society, Northern Lights, Studies in French Cinema, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema.

Richard Maltby is Professor of Screen Studies and Deputy Execuive Dean of the Faculty of Education, Humanities, Law and Theology at Flinders University, South Australia. He is Series Editor of Exeter Studies in Film History, and the author of over 50 articles and essays, and the lead investigator on two Australian Research Council Discovery projects examining the structure of the distribution and exhibition industry and the history of cinema audiences in Australia.

Philippe Meers is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. His publications on popular media culture and film audiences have appeared in Media, Culture and Society, The Journal of Popular Film and Television, The Bulletin, Iluminace and other journals. He is the lead investigator on The ‘Enlightened’ City-project on the history of film exhibition and film culture in Flanders and Brussels (2005-8, with Daniel Biltereyst and Marnix Beyen).