The Biopolitical Turn in World Cinema

Name: The Biopolitical Turn in World Cinema
Price: 253.22 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9798855805833

Visual Landscapes of Social Power

Luca Barattoni (Clemson University)

$316.95 $253.22

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We will update you on expected arrival time to us. If this delay is too long, please let us know within 2 business days and we can give you options regarding cancelling or adjusting your order. More details on cancelling your order can be found in our Terms of Trade.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

State University of New York Press
01 March 2026

Film theory & criticism; Philosophy: aesthetics; Human rights; Civil rights & citizenship

Series: SUNY series, Horizons of Cinema

Explores biopolitical currents in world cinema, paying particular attention to postsocialist and postrevolutionary filmmakers from Iran, Russia, China, and Romania.

The Biopolitical Turn in World Cinema explores how cinematic form and content understand and represent relationships of power between the state and life itself. Cinema, it argues, is both technical apparatus and aesthetic object and as such is imminently biopolitical, both as a medium of governmental control and as a site of resistance. The book analyzes a range of cinematic movements, paying particular attention to postsocialist and postrevolutionary filmmakers from Iran (Asghar Farhadi), Russia (Sergei Loznitsa), China (Xiaoshuai Wang), and Romania (Radu Jude). The book concludes by looking toward filmmakers—from Jordan Peele to Albert Serra—who further illuminate the limits of biopolitical paradigms, offering new ways of understanding contemporary political and ethical challenges posed by neoliberal globalization. While this book will appeal to film studies specialists, it is also a comprehensive introduction to film theory and biopolitical thought that will appeal to nonacademic and student readers with an interest in the subjects.

By: Luca Barattoni (Clemson University)
Imprint: State University of New York Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 562g
ISBN: 9798855805833
Series: SUNY series, Horizons of Cinema
Pages: 326
Publication Date: 01 March 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgments Introduction: The Biopolitical Turn in World Cinema 1. Thinking Through Biopolitics and Film: An Overview 2. ""The Governmentalization of Social Life"": Asghar Farhadi and Iranian Cinema 3. Russia and the Use and Abuse of Genealogical Authority 4. From Biopolitics to Ecopolitics: The (Un)intended Consequences of Biopower in the Cinema of Wang Xiaoshuai 5. Allegories of Extraction: Radu Jude and the New Romanian Cinema Conclusion: New Directions in World Cinema: The Animist Turn Notes Bibliography Index

Luca Barattoni is Associate Professor of World Cinema at Clemson University and the author of Italian Post-Neorealist Cinema.

Reviews for The Biopolitical Turn in World Cinema: Visual Landscapes of Social Power

""Barattoni's The Biopolitical Turn in World Cinema describes with laser-sharp precision the current state of play in both film philosophy and film studies. Its original theoretical framework combines Foucault's 'bio power' and Agamben's 'biopolitics' with recent nonhuman and animistic approaches to substantiate the analysis of films picked from post-socialist and post-revolutionary regions, where political oppression results in harm to and often destruction of the human body and life. A highly recommended read for both scholars and lovers of world cinema."" — Lúcia Nagib, author of Realist Cinema as World Cinema: Non-cinema, Intermedial Passages, Total Cinema