| Selected
publications |
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| Books | ||
| Italian Neorealism:
Rebuilding the Cinematic City (Wallflower Press, London/Columbia University Press, New York, 2006) |
 |
'The brief lifespan and relatively small output of this cinematic movement makes it perfectly suited to Wallflower's Short Cuts series, and this volume is the best yet among some fine competition. Mark Shiel concisely and unpretentiously provides everything you could need to know about the cornerstones of the genre, from its sudden birth following Mussolini's time in power, through seven key works, to a brief concluding look at its legacy. An excellent introduction to one of the often mentioned but lesser understood forms of world cinema, this achieves exactly what it sets out to, and delivers cinema-lit and its most comfortably digestible. *****' Empire, April 2006 'Mark Shiel's survey of Italian Neorealism is a well-written, well-researched and interesting book. His focus on the role of urban spaces in neorealist classics is particularly illuminating, and the discussions of the films in question are always based upon very intelligent and sensitive analyses of the many dimensions of these works (aesthetic, social, ideological, political) that make them so fascinating. Highly recommended.' Peter Bondanella, Indiana University 'A highly engaging introduction to Italy&rsquos most celebrated cinematic movement, its crucial relationship to modernist art cinemas, its privileging focus on the city and ontological truths, and its meaning in the films of five major auteurs &ndash Visconti, Rossellini, De Sica, Antonioni, and Fellini. Italian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City is a solid study of neorealist aesthetics, a book marked by a critical understanding of Italian cinema and culture, a valuable addition to a field crowded with specialized volumes.' Gaetana Marrone, Princeton University |
| Cinema and the City:
Film and Urban Societies in a Global Context (Blackwell Publishing, Oxford and New Malden, MA, 2001) Edited by Mark Shiel and Tony Fitzmaurice |
 |
"..recommended to those
who are exploring the exciting reciprocity between the
city and the cinema..." James A. Clapp, Journal
of Urban Technology "Cinema and the City is an exceptional reader that interrogates a range of issues linking cities, film, and globalization. With essays of exceptionally high quality this is an intriguing, engaging and informed work that should be accessible to an array of disciplines and students." Leo Zonn, Annals of the Association of American Geographers "Stitching together the
complex and multiple intersections between film, cities,
urban cultures and globalisation is no simple task, as
any number of very good single-authored works will
demonstrate. Despite these difficulties, Shiel and
Fitzmaurice's excellent anthology rises to the occasion
and, in the process, pushes film studies beyond its usual
terrain of textual, audience and production analyses to
relocate the subject matter within urban sociology [...]
As the relationship between film and the city continue to
develop as a focus of critical inquiry, Cinema and
the City stands as one of the more accessible and
innovative entry-points into the issues [...] a welcome
addition to the reading-lists of graduate and
undergraduate courses in film studies and urban
studies/sociology" Joe Austin, Urban Studies. |
| Screening the City (Verso, London and New York, 2003) Edited by Mark Shiel and Tony Fitzmaurice |
 |
'...the book features several
excellent essays which follow its guiding principle -
juxtaposing city and cinema and using each to look at the
other. The best essays not only bring the city into the analysis of a film, but also use the film and the conditions of its production to shed new light on social, political, and economic concerns of its historical place and time.' Mariana Mogilevich, Film Quarterly 'Collaboratively edited by
Mark Shiel and Tony Fitzmaurice, Screening The City is an
eye-opening collection of essays concerning the motif of
urban life and experiences as depicted by and reflected
in, twentieth-century filmmaking. Literate and
thought-provoking, with an eye for changes in cities as
seen film since the dramatic worldwide upheaval of World
War II, Screening The City Is An Erudite And Recommended
Addition to Cinematic Studies reading lists and reference
collections.' Midwest Book Review |
Recent books with chapters by Mark Shiel |
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| Contemporary American Cinema (McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 2006) Edited by Mike Hammond and Linda Ruth Williams |
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| "Un-American"
Hollywood: Politics and Film in the Blacklist Era (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ and London, 2008) Edited by Frank Krutnik, Steve Neale, Brian Neve, and Peter Stanfield |
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Cinematic Rome (Troubador Italian Studies, Leicester, 2008) Edited by Richard Wrigley |
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Branding Cities: Cosmopolitanism, Parochialism, and Social Change (Routledge, New York and London, 2009) Edited by Stephanie Hemelryk Donald, Eleonore Kofman, Catherine Kevin |
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|
| The Cambridge Companion to the
Literature of Los Angeles (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, 2010) Edited by Kevin McNamara |
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Recent DVDs with commentary by Mark Shiel |
||
| Bicycle Thieves (The Criterion Collection, 2007) "Life As It Is", a documentary and interview with Mark Shiel, Disc 2 DVD extra, running time 40 mins |
|
"...a 40-minute
documentary, with film clips illustrating a long, lucid
and articulate discourse on neorealism by film scholar
Mark Shiel." Mick LaSalle, San Francisco
Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/25/PKGRJN85K51.DTL "Life As It
Is: The Neorealist Movement in Italy is a
clear-eyed, comprehensive survey of this influential
period of filmmaking presented by film scholar Mark
Shiel." Leonard Maltin, Leonard Maltin's Movie
Crazy "Mark
Shiel makes this a very accessible and informative
feature, looking in-depth at how the movement came about,
its characteristics, directors and writers, its growth
and its influence, comparing it to the Hollywood style of
the period. Comprehensive, informed, interesting and
unpretentiously delivered, this is excellent." Noel
Megahey, DVD Times |
Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy (The Criterion Collection, 2009) "Rossellini and the City", a documentary and interview with Mark Shiel, Disc 2 DVD extra, running time 25 minutes |
 |
"Another
highlight is author Mark Shiel's video essay
"Rossellini and the City," for its insight into
the war cycle's "de-monumentalizing" of its
historic Italian cities in favor of a vision of populist
decency enduring against a backdrop of official
breakdown, while the desolate Berlin of the finale evokes
an abstracted 'endlessness.'" Bill Weber, Slant
Magazine http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/roberto-rossellinis-war-trilogy/1653 |
