Celluloid Colony (Paperback)

Sandeep Ray

ISBN 10: 9813251387 / ISBN 13: 9789813251380

Published by NUS Press, Singapore, 2021

About this Item

Paperback. How should colonial film archives be read? How can historians and ethnographers use colonial film as a complement to conventional written sources? Sandeep Ray uses the case of Dutch colonial film in Indonesia to show how a critically-, historically- and cinematically-informed reading of colonial film in the archive can be a powerful and unexpected source, and one more easily accessible today via digitisation.The language of film and the conventions and forms of non-fiction film were still in formation in the first two decades of the 20th century. Colonialism was one of the drivers of this development, as the picturing of the native "other" in film was seen as an important tool to build support for missionary and colonial efforts. While social histories of photography in non-European contexts have been an area of great interest in recent years; Celluloid Colony brings moving images into the same scope of study. Uses the case of Dutch colonial film in Indonesia to show how a critically-, historically- and cinematically-informed reading of colonial film in the archive can be a powerful and unexpected source, and one more easily accessible today via digitisation. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9789813251380

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Celluloid Colony (Paperback)
• Publisher: NUS Press, Singapore
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9813251387
• ISBN 13: 9789813251380
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

How should colonial film archives be read? How can historians and ethnographers use colonial film as a complement to conventional written sources? Sandeep Ray uses the case of Dutch colonial film in Indonesia to show how a critically, historically, and cinematically informed reading of colonial film in the archive can be a powerful and unexpected source—one that  is more accessible than ever today because of digitization. The language of film and the conventions and forms of nonfiction film were still in formation in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Colonialism, Ray shows, was one of the drivers of this development, as the picturing of the native “other” in film was seen as an important tool to build support for missionary and colonial efforts. While social histories of photography in non-European contexts have been an area of great interest in recent years; Celluloid Colony for the first time brings moving images into the same scope of study.
 

About the Author

Sandeep Ray is a filmmaker and a historian of Southeast Asia and is senior lecturer at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.