EAN 9780415384223

With films as diverse as "Bhaji on the Beach", "The Dam Busters", "Trainspotting", "The Draughtsman's Contract," "Prick Up Your Ears", "Ratcatcher", "This Is England and Atonement," British cinema has produced wide-ranging notions of British culture, identity and nationhood. "British National Cinema" is a comprehensive introduction to the British film industry within an economic, political and social context. Describing the development of the British film industry, from the Lumiere brothers' first screening in London in 1896 through to the dominance of Hollywood and the severe financial crises which affected Goldcrest, Handmade Films and Palace Pictures in the late 1980s and 1990s, and the formation of the UK Film Council, Sarah Street explores the relationship between British cinema and British society.