By Mariana Liz

This post summarizes the main findings of my doctoral research, which is published as a book. It also discusses the current challenges for contemporary European cinema research, reflecting on the role film studies might occupy within the social sciences.

Ten years ago, I took part in the European Voluntary Service (EVS) programme in Perugia, Italy. I lived and worked with two other volunteers, one from Austria and one from Latvia, and we were constantly asked to give presentations in schools about our ‘European identity’.

The fact that we had one was a given. The fact that we would know how to define it, not so much. Still, we were prompted to design posters with images of tasty food and sunny places (at least in my case – I am from Portugal), and to talk at length about differences and similarities between our nations, about humanism and universality, and about European values.
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