15 Mar Award Winners Announcement
The Janovics Center Award for Outstanding Humanities Research in Transnational Film and Theatre Studies is yearly awarded to publications that advance transnational research in the fields of film and theatre studies and employ innovative methods in the humanities. The Jury awarding these works was composed of Professors Rachel Harris, Florida Atlantic University; Andrew Higson, University of York; and Constantin Parvulescu, Babeș-Bolyai University (for film studies); and Jozefina Komporaly, University of the Arts: London; Beatrice Picon-Vallin, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France; and Miruna Runcan, Babeș-Bolyai University (for theatre studies). The Jury decided to offer the following awards:
BEST BOOK of 2022: Hollywood Remakes of Iconic British Films: Class, Gender and Stardom (Edinburgh University Press, 2022) by Agnieszka Rasmus, University of Łódź, Poland.
The Jury regards the monograph as an excellent example of transnational film studies research. It commends its detailed scholarship, quality of writing, and carefully thought-out argument. One of the strengths of Rasmus’s monograph is the novelty of the topic, an examination of films made with substantial Hollywood involvement in the UK in the 1960s/1970s, and then remade as Hollywood films in the 2000s, thereby addressing important issues about transnational production and distribution, cross-cultural exchange and reception, and the processes of adaptation and remaking. Drawing on an in-depth knowledge of the literature in her field, Rasmus’s approach is multidimensional, engaging with both industrial and aesthetic concerns, employing horizontal and diachronic research, and providing a comprehensive cultural and historical context. This enables her to reveal the way class, gender and stardom are adapted and updated for global audiences.
BEST ARTICLE of 2022: National cultural history and transnational political concerns in Rasha Fadhil’s ‘Ishtar in Baghdad’, Studies in Theatre and Performance, Routledge, by Majeed Mohammed Midhin & David Clare
The Jury considered that the article offers a fresh perspective on a cultural/theatrical space, also addressing relevant issues concerning the formulas of rethinking the cultural heritage for an original and powerful piece of theatrical performance, dedicated to a contemporary audience – Rasha Fadhil’s Ishtar in Baghdad (2003). The jury appreciated the authors’ profound analysis of the social, cultural, and political (both national and international) context of Iraqi theatre production, and the complex depiction of the impact of aesthetic achievement.
The Janovics Center congratulates the authors and will organize book presentations and talks related to their work. Further details on the award and related events will be available on the Center’s website, under News and Events.
Cluj-Napoca, March 15, 2023.
Constantin Parvulescu and Miruna Runcan