Introduction — Cinematic Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Filming on an Uneven Field

Abstract

As Therese Davis has suggested in her work on Australian collaborations between indigenous and majority filmmakers, the term “collaboration” quickly loses its commonsense meaning: a group of creative people working together on a shared goal. This reading flattens out any conflicting ideologies participants bring to the work, imagining them all on a level playing field — culturally, economically, and spiritually. It is often the reverse: a highly uneven field, weighted strongly toward one side. Rather, Davis sees cross-cultural collaboration as more nuanced, involving conflict, contestation, and compromise (2009). Cinema, Cross-Cultural Collaboration, and Criticism highlights these nuances, using cinematic case studies spanning several countries, indigenous groups, and methodologies. This leads to new kinds of critical understandings and policy implications, addressed in the book’s Conclusion.