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n Phillis, Philip (2015) Towards an inclusive discourse: representation of Albanian immigrants in Greek cinema. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6303/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Towards an Inclusive Discourse Representation of Albanian Immigrants in Greek Cinema Philip Phillis (BA, MsC) Submitted in fulfilment for the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2015 ©Philip Phillis Abstract This thesis outlines and discusses portrayals of Albanian and Ethnic Greek migrants from Albania in contemporary Greek cinema. The focus is on seven coproduced films made between 1993 and 2009 that set out to challenge endemic xenophobia and nationalism. The latter have served the most in the exclusion of Albanian immigrants in Greece. The exclusion of Albanian migrants in Greece can be linked to a history of opposition between both countries which has led to a collective predisposition towards Albanians as inherently criminal. This is not an isolated event, but a broad phenomenon that saw Southern European cinemas becoming increasingly preoccupied with the presence of migrants in a region that has not been conditioned to hosting but rather to sending émigrés. Such films therefore also challenge the cultural bedrock of Greece and Europe. It is argued in this thesis that the shift from a national cinema to a transnational mode of filmmaking and representation, that asserts difference and a decline in national sovereignty, is an entirely alien experience to the history of Greek cinema. By utilising a holistic and critically informed framework and methodology, the author unpacks the films' creative and cultural context and addresses them as one body in relation to the specific cultural and historical backdrop. Consequently the texts per se are addressed in order to measure the degree to which they achieve a radical representation of difference and an overall shift from the norm of an insular cinema and film discourse. It is argued that the proposed films plant the seeds for an inclusive discourse but not without reinforcing obvious essentialisms that underlie nationalism and Eurocentrism. Therefore, the author argues that nationalism and Eurocentrism inform the films and hinder their aspiration towards a radical discourse. 2 Table of Contents Table of contents..........................................................................................1-3 List of figures...............................................................................................4-6 Acknowledgements......................................................................................7 Author's declaration....................................................................................8 1. Introduction.............................................................................................9 1.1 Entering the era of migration......................................................10-12 1.2 Concurrent shifts in the cinema(s) of Fortress Europe...............13 1.3 Greek cinema..............................................................................14-17 1.4 A discourse of the margins 1.4.1 Distribution..................................................................18-20 1.4.2 Limited scholarly research..........................................21-25 1.4.3 Dealing with an ingrained bias...................................26-28 1.4.4 Box office failure.........................................................29-33 1.5 Structure.....................................................................................34-35 2. Framework and Methodology Introduction.................................................................................................36 2.1 National and transnational cinema.............................................37-45 2.2 Difference, representation and postcolonial theory...................46-47 2.3 Methodology.............................................................................48-52 3. Behind the text: Production, exhibition and reception of Hostage, Eduart and correction Introduction................................................................................................53-54 3.1 Power and resistance: Hostage 3.1.1 Situated, universal, national and transnational: Constantinos Giannaris....................................................................................................55-59 3.1.2 The hostage situation and its aftermath.....................60-62 3.1.3 Questioning the national in Hostage: production and cast...........63-66 3.1.4 The film that became a hostage: domestic reception of Hostage..67-70 3.1.5 Reception of Hostage by the "other"..............................................71-74 3.1.6 Labeling and claiming the auteur..................................................75-77 3.2 A film without nationality: Eduart...............................................................78-84 1 3.3 "Guerilla Cinema": filmmaking in the interstices of national cinema and subsidy............................................................................................................................85-92 4. The Migrant Imagination: Motivations, expectations and ambitions Introduction....................................................................................................................93-94 4.1 Imagined fatherlands, imagined utopias: From the Snow............................95-99 4.2 Justifying criminality in Hostage: vindication in perpetual dialogue with a traumatic past and the migrant imagination................................................................100-107 4.3 The migrant imagination as a desire for escape from patriarchy and the Albanian nation: Eduart..............................................................................................108-115 5. At the border and beyond: Journeys of hope to Fortress Europe and representations of border syndrome in From the Snow, Hostage and Eternity and a Day Introduction................................................................................................................116 5.1 From one border to the next and towards a marginal life: From the Snow........................................................................................................................... 117-129 5.2 Tragic pathos and border syndrome: Hostage..........................................130-137 5.3 A meditation on postmodernity, Left patronage and Eurocentrism: Eternity and a Day 5.3.1 Dislocation and loss..................................................................138-140 5.3.2 The greater picture: a world of border subjects........................141-146 5.3.3 The universal border subject: inertia and the pathos of exile...147-155 6. The end of the Journey as a reminder of Europe's periphery, From the Snow, Eternity and a Day, Hostage......................................................................................156-174 6.1 Albanians without borders: correction.....................................................175-178 6.2 Afterword: Crime and redemption: reconfiguring the Greek-Albanian border in Eduart.........................................................................................................................179-182 7. The Albanian in the Room, assessing representations of hospitality Introduction................................................................................................................183-185 7.1 First encounters, first representations: From the Snow............................186-196 7.2 From xenophobia to xenophilia: exploring a new representation in See You..............................................................................................................................197-208 2 7.3 Reverse hierarchy: Albanian hospitality in correction and See You........209-224 7.4 You will never become a Greek: reinforcing stereotypes in Plato's Academy......................................................................................................................225-235 8. Conclusion: Towards Difference.........................................................................236-241 9. Bibliography..........................................................................................................242-253 10. Electronic Bibliography.....................................................................................254-258 10. Filmography........................................................................................................259-261 3 List of Figures Figure 3.1.3.1: A monumental setting ................................................................................. 65 Figure 3.1.3.2: Close-up ....................................................................................................... 65 Figure 4.1.1: Corfu by night ................................................................................................. 98 Figure 4.1.2: Corfu by day .................................................................................................