Abstract

Film has long been observed as an important tool in nation-building in different cultural and regional settings (Williams 2002, Vitali and Willemen 2006, Hjort and Mackenzie 2000). The power of the silver screen can contribute to fostering a common sense of belonging among citizens by creating national heroes and re-imagining collective memory, myths and traditions with the aim of establishing stable cultural meanings. Cinema, thus, as a discursive practice, can aid the construction of national subjects (Vitali and Willemen 2006). Arguably, both cinema and ‘nation’ are relatively new phenomena, constituted as they are by modernity and capitalism (Williams 2002, Gellner, 1983). Therefore, film has proven to play an important role in emergent and on-going processes of nation-building and national self-identification.