Transgressive Art Films

Transgressive Art Films offers a holistic approach to the way we consider controversial and extreme cinema - not just as individual or grouped texts for analysis - but as artefacts that ought to be considered within a complex network of social factors. Kenny provides a rigorous framework for understanding some of the most controversial films from the late 1990s onwards. The term 'transgressive art film' refers to a handful of controversial films recuperated each year by the cinematic world as an expansion of film art. Rather than seeing controversial films as aberrations, this book suggests that transgressive art films should be understood as a socio-cultural phenomenon and a driver of cinema's need for newness, innovation, and renewal. By paying attention to all scales of cinema, from close analysis of individual frames and the discourse constructed around them, up to global distribution and film-festival networks, Transgressive Art Films details how certain kinds of cinematic transgression gain wide-ranging institutional support rather than being overlooked. Oliver Kenny is Lecturer in Film and Media at the Institute of Communication Studies (ISTC), Université Catholique de Lille.