Where is France in French Cinema, 1976-2013?

What is it about?

Film critics might talk about "French cinema" but they don't often talk about where they mean when they say it. Making a map of where French box office hits and critical award-winners can give us an idea of what places appear - and don't appear - on screen in French movies, and how that geography affects the "France" and French identity that appears in movies.

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Why is it important?

Making maps of films' narrative locations treats "where" as the first step in film analysis. This change in focus can re-orient film criticism and film history, and not only show us all the places that appear frequently and/or get left out of movies, but also lead us to re-asses previously unappreciated films for the way they reveal something important about a nation's geography and identity on film.