Storytelling in World Cinemas, Vol. 2: Contexts addresses the questions of what and why particular stories are told in films around the world, both in terms of the forms of storytelling used, and of the political, religious, historical, and social contexts informing cinematic storytelling. Drawing on films from all five continents, the book approaches storytelling from a cultural/historical multidisciplinary perspective, focusing on the influence of cultural politics, postcolonialism, women's social and cultural positions, and religious contexts on film stories. Like its sister volume, Storytelling in World Cinemas, Vol. 1: Forms, this book is an innovative addition to the academic study of world cinemas.

AcknowledgementsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction to Volume Two, by Lina KhatibStorytelling and Cultural PoliticsStories as Social Critique: The Vision of China in the Films of Jia Zhangke, by Konrad NgTaonga (cultural treasures): Reflections on Maori Storytelling in the Cinema of Aotearoa/New Zealand, by Hester JoyceThe Minjung Cultural Movement and Korean Cinema of the 1980s: The Influence of Minjung Theatre and Art in Lee Jang-ho's Films, by Nam LeeOn How to Tell a Revolution: Alsino y el cóndor, by Robert Dash and Patricia VarasStorytelling and PostcolonialismTelling Stories About Unknown People in Faraway Countries: U.S. Travelogues About Mexico in the 1930s and 1940s, by Isabel ArredondoMemory and Tradition as a Postcolonial Response in the Films of Kyrgyzstan's Aktan Abdykalykov, by Willow Mullins'Postcolonial Beaux' Stratagem: Singing and Dancing Back with Carmen in African Films, by Yifen T. BeusTelling Women's StoriesHeard/Symbolic Voices: The Nouba of the Women of Mont Chenoua and Women's Film in the Maghreb, by Zahia Smail SalhiWomen's Stories and Public Space in Iranian New Wave Film, by Anna DempseyCinematic Images of Women at a Time of National(ist) Crisis: The Case of Three Yugoslav Films, by Dijana JelacaHistory as Science Fiction: Women of Action in Hong Kong Cinema, by Sa?a VojkovicStorytelling and Religio-Cultural EncountersClouds of Unknowing: Buddhism and Bhutanese Cinema, by Shohini Chaudhuri and Sue ClaytonClaiming Space, Time and History in The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, by Darrell VargaQissa and Popular Hindi Cinema, by Anjali Gera RoyIndex