C21’s broad range of publications confirms its leadership in the academic community in the United States and abroad. The books in our current series with the University of Minnesota Press, and in our earlier series, 21st Century Studies and Theories of Contemporary Culture, with Indiana University Press originate from conferences sponsored by C21 or are authored by scholars affiliated with the Center.

Latest Release: Ends of Cinema

Our fourth volume in the Center for 21st Century Studies series with the University of Minnesota Press was released in fall 2020: Ends of Cinema.

Edited by C21 director Richard Grusin and Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece (Film Studies, UWM), this volume originates from our 2018 conference of the same name.

At the dawn of the digital era in the final decades of the twentieth century, film and media studies scholars grappled with the prospective end of what was deemed cinema: analog celluloid production, darkened public movie theaters, festival culture. In Ends of Cinema, contributors reinvigorate this debate to contemplate the ends, as well as directions and new beginnings, of cinema in the twenty-first century.

In this volume, scholars at the forefront of film and media studies interrogate multiple potential “ends” of cinema: its goals and spaces, its relationship to postcinema, its racial dynamics and environmental implications, and its theoretical and historical conclusions. Moving beyond the predictable question of digital versus analog, the scholars gathered here rely on critical theory and historical research to consider cinema alongside its media companions: television, the gallery space, digital media, and theatrical environments. Ends of Cinema underscores the shared project of film and media studies to open up what seems closed off, and to continually reinvent approaches that seem unresponsive.

Contributors: Caetlin Benson-Allott (Georgetown), James Leo Cahill (University of Toronto), Francesco Casetti (Yale), Mary Ann Doane (Berkeley), André Gaudreault (University of Montréal), Michael Boyce Gillespie (City College of New York), Mark Paul Meyer (EYE Filmmuseum), Jennifer Lynn Peterson (Woodbury University-Los Angeles), and Amy Villarejo (Cornell).

University of Minnesota Press: Center for 21st Century Studies Series

See the rest of the books in this series:

21st Century Studies Series (Indiana University Press)

The books in this series originated from the Center’s annual conferences and symposiums and were edited by Center directors, Fellows, and other top scholars in their fields.

Theories of Contemporary Culture Series (Indiana University Press)

Our Theories of Contemporary Culture series included edited collections and single-author books by a variety of 21st century studies scholars. Books in this series include: