World Cinema, Theology, and the Human

Forging an open-minded but reasoned dialogue between nine acclaimed titles of world cinema, and a range of theological perspectives that touch on the theme of human experience, World Cinema, Theology, and the Human offers fresh portals of insight for the interdisciplinary area of Theology and Film. In SisonΓÇÖs approach, it is the cinematic representation of vivid humanity, not necessarily propositional statements about God and religion, that lays down a bridge to a conversation with theology. Thus, the bookΓÇÖs project is to look for the divine presence, written not on tablets of stone, but on "tablets of human hearts" depicted on screen by way of audiovisual language. Seeking to redress the interdisciplineΓÇÖs narrow predilection for Hollywood blockbusters, the book casts its net wider to include a culturally diverse selection of case studiesΓÇô from festival gems such as SingaporeΓÇÖs Be With Me and South AfricaΓÇÖs Yesterday, to widely-acclaimed sleeper hits such as BritainΓÇÖs Slumdog Millionaire and New ZealandΓÇÖs Whale Rider. The book will appeal to scholars of theology and religious/cultural studies interested in the Theology/Religion-Film interface, and, because of its commitment to an examination of film qua film, a crossover readership from film studies.