ABSTRACT
Over the past thirty years, European cinema has undergone an unprecedented transformation as a result of the increased visibility of diasporic filmmakers and a growing interest in the representation of ethnic diversity and multiculturalism on screen. These filmmakers, their parents or grandparents came to Europe as part of postcolonial migrations to the imperial ‘mother countries’ or as part of labour migration which affected virtually all Northern and Western European countries, irrespective of their colonial past. Others came after the end of the Cold War, when global migration, in particular from the East to the West, intensified. Most recently, Europe has witnessed what has been termed the ‘migration crisis’, referring to the influx of refugees and asylum-seekers from war-torn Syria and other countries in that region. These diverse migratory flows, the settlement of migrants and refugees, and the gradual emergence of diaspora cultures across Europe have meant that the concept of European identity and nationhood has become ever more fluid and contested. This is not surprising given that transnational mobility and migration belong to ‘the key forces of social transformation in the contemporary world’ (Castles 2002: 1144) and that public debates over immigration are making media headlines.
