Editor's Introduction

issue 78.1 of the Journal of Film and Video opens with a dossier curated by Catherine Russell titled “Forum on Non-Professional Actors in Independent Cinema.” In the first of the four essays therein, Catherine O'Rawe analyzes ways in which discourses surrounding film festivals celebrate but also marginalize the non-professional actors who are sometimes key to art-cinema productions. In the second, Catherine Russell offers fresh insights into Peter Brook's Lord of the Flies (1963) by reconsidering the film's depiction of the non-professional actors in light of new paratextual information. In the third contribution, Miguel Gaggiotti reveals that non-professional actors were essential to the austere style of Robert Bresson's films and the director's conception of his own work as a director. The fourth essay, by Ivone Margulies, illuminates the contributions the actors make to the Brazilian film Dry Ground Burning (Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós, 2022), in which the collaborative process fostered the creation of scenes that offer meaningful access to the identities and self-expression of both the characters and the non-professional actors.In “Orientalized Imagery in Posthuman Science-Fiction Cities: From the Explosive Chinatown to the Generic Metropolis,” Wei Lin and Jinmei Fan analyze selected Hollywood films in which depictions of the future circulate and naturalize Orientalized imagery. Tracing visual motifs in films ranging from Blade Runner (1982) and The Matrix trilogy (1999, 2003) to later films such Looper (2012) and Her (2013), the authors’ comprehensive yet detailed examples clarify ways in which Hollywood reinforces stereotypes of the East as a place of exoticism and technological excess and as a liberating space for alienated white male figures.“Order versus Chaos in Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960)” by Martin Holtz makes the case that despite the involvement of multiple people, Spartacus features the stylistic and thematic patterns that distinguish Kubrick's body of work. The article's many frame captures illustrate direct visual parallels between moments in Spartacus and other Kubrick films; its comparative analysis of narrative elements shows that Spartacus conveys Kubrick's signature concerns about the destructive power of oppressive social structures and his abiding interest in chaos as a destructive and creative force. The article proposes that order and chaos possess “mutual causality” in Kubrick's narratives, as characters’ efforts to impose order prompt chaos, just as chaos leads to drives for order and control.Issue 78.1 concludes with reviews of three notable publications. The first book reviewed, Crafting Contemporary Documentaries and Docuseries for Global Screens: Documania (2024), draws on the author's research and filmmaking experience to illustrate ways documentaries can foster inclusive social change in the digital era. Motion Picture Paradise: A History of Florida's Film and Television Industry (2024) expands understanding about the state's film history by analyzing Florida filmmaking in relation to local political, economic, and cultural dynamics. Playing the Percentages: How Film Distribution Made the Hollywood Studio System (2024) provides new insights into Hollywood as a complex business enterprise, illustrating how early distributors packaged and sold films, how Wall Street CEOs decided studio-era production and distribution plans, and how twenty-first-century distribution models have reshaped the studio system.