Introduction; Fiona Handyside and Kate Taylor-JonesPART I: GIRLHOOD AND POSTFEMINISM GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES1. The Showgirl Effect: Adolescent Girls and (Precarious) "technologies of sexiness" in Contemporary Italian Cinema; Danielle Hipkins,2. Girlfriends, Postfeminism, and the European Chick-Flick in France; Mary Harrod3. Warrior of Love: Japanese Girlhood and Postfeminist Corporeality in Cutie Honey (Hideaki Anno, 2004); Joel GwynnePART II: PHILOSOPHIES OF GIRLHOOD ON FILM4. Feminine Adolescence and Transgressive Materiality in the Films of Lucrecia Martel; Deborah Martin5. A Phenomenology of Girlhood: Being Mia in Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009); Lucy Bolton6. Desire, Outcast: Locating Queer Adolescence; Clara Bradbury-Rance7. Bye-Bye to Betty's Blues and "La Bonne Meuf": Temporal Drag and Queer Subversions of the Rom-com in Bye Bye Blondie (Virginie Despentes, 2011); Lara CoxPART III: SONIC YOUTH: GIRLHOOD, MUSIC, AND IDENTITY8. "Chica Dificil": Music, Identity, and Agency in Real Women Have Curves (Patricia Cardoso, 2002); Tim McNelis9. Emotion, Girlhood and Music in Naissance des pieuvres/Water Lilies (Céline Sciamma, 2007) and Un amour de jeunesse/Goodbye, First Love (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2011); Fiona Handyside10. The Pleasures of Music Video Aesthetics in Girl Teen Film; Samantha CollingPART IV: EXTRA-ORDINARY GIRLHOODS11. Where's Girlhood? The Female Child Killer in Where's Mary? (Tony Hickson, 2005); Lisa Downing12. Performing History: Girlhood and The Apple (Samira Makhmalbaf, 1998); Margherita Sprio13. Girlhood in a Warzone: African Child Soldiers on Film; Kate Taylor-Jones14. Daddy's Little Sidekick: The Girl Superhero in Contemporary Cinema; Marty Zeller-Jacques

From the precocious charms of Shirley Temple to the box-office behemoth Frozen and its two young female leads, Anna and Elsa, the girl has long been a figure of fascination for cinema. The symbol of (imagined) childhood innocence, the site of intrigue and nostalgia for adults, a metaphor for the precarious nature of subjectivity itself, the girl is caught between infancy and adulthood, between objectification and power. She speaks to many strands of interest for film studies: feminist questions of cinematic representation of female subjects; historical accounts of shifting images of girls and childhood in the cinema; and philosophical engagements with the possibilities for the subject in film. This collection considers the specificity of girls' experiences and their cinematic articulation through a multicultural feminist lens which cuts across the divides of popular/art-house, Western/non Western, and north/south. Drawing on examples from North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, the contributors bring a new understanding of the global/local nature of girlhood and its relation to contemporary phenomena such as post-feminism, neoliberalism and queer subcultures. Containing work by established and emerging scholars, this volume explodes the narrow post-feminist canon and expands existing geographical, ethnic, and historical accounts of cinematic cultures and girlhood.

"International Cinema and the Girl makes a great contribution to the field by addressing, through smart and conceptually varied perspectives, a wide range of films produced globally. These films demonstrate what the editors call, rightfully, 'the complex variety of girlhood representations.' The scope of the book is impressive in illuminating the many ways in which girls' identity has figured centrally in films made in the US, Europe, Africa, Argentina, Japan, and Iran during the last twenty years." - Gaylyn Studlar, author of Precocious Charms: Stars Performing Girlhood in Classical Hollywood Cinema

"International Cinema and the Girl makes a great contribution to the field by addressing, through smart and conceptually varied perspectives, a wide range of films produced globally. These films demonstrate what the editors call, rightfully, 'the complex variety of girlhood representations.' The scope of the book is impressive in illuminating the many ways in which girls' identity has figured centrally in films made in the US, Europe, Africa, Argentina, Japan, and Iran during the last twenty years." - Gaylyn Studlar, author of Precocious Charms: Stars Performing Girlhood in Classical Hollywood Cinema