Films on Ice

This is a comprehensive study of films made in and about one of the world's most breathtaking landscapes - the Arctic. The first book to address the vast diversity of Northern circumpolar cinemas from a transnational perspective, Films on Ice: Cinemas of the Arctic presents the region as one of great and previously overlooked cinematic diversity. With chapters on polar explorer films, silent cinema, documentaries, ethnographic and indigenous film, gender and ecology, as well as Hollywood and the USSR's uses and abuses of the Arctic, this book provides a groundbreaking account of Arctic cinemas from 1898 to the present. Challenging dominant notions of the region in popular and political culture, it demonstrates how moving images (cinema, television, video, and digital media) have been central to the very definition of the Arctic since the end of the 19th century. Bringing together an international array of European, Russian, Nordic, and North American scholars, Films on Ice radically alters stereotypical views of the Arctic region, and therefore of film history itself. It transforms the study, reception, and reach of Arctic cinema, film, and moving image culture. It establishes the significance of the term Global North in relation to film studies. It brings together an international array of European, Russian, Nordic, and North America of scholars and researchers, with content expertise transcending limited national or regional boundaries. Editors are planning to build a companion website with complimentary images and videos.