Howard Finn is Lecturer in the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary, University of London, UK. He has written many articles for peer-reviewed journals such as Screen as well as for collections. He co-wrote the influential essay ‘The Open Image: Poetic Realism and the New Iranian Cinema’ which has been reprinted for other collections and also translated into Hungarian and Turkish.
Cinematic Modernism and Contemporary Film sets a new standard for discussions of art cinema and modernist film. Finn convincingly argues that key elements of contemporary cinematic modernism are inspired by a commitment to realism, even as such realism is continually questioned and often undermined. The range of films and filmmakers discussed here is impressive and gives readers a comprehensive account of cinematic modernism from its beginnings to the present. -- Richard Rushton, Lancaster University, UK