Comprised of 43 innovative contributions, this companion is both an overview of, and intervention into the field of cinema and gender. The essays included here address a variety of geographical contexts, from an analysis of cinema. Islam and women and television under Eastern European socialism, to female audience reception in Nigeria, to changing class and race norms in Bollywood dance sequences. A special focus is on women directors in a global context that includes films and filmmakers from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North and South America. The collection also offers a solid overview of feminist contributions to thinking on genre from the "chick flick" to the action or Western film, to film noir and the slasher. Readers will find contributions on a variety of approaches to spectatorship, reception studies and fandom, as well as transnational approaches to star studies and essays addressing the relationship between feminist film theory and new media. Other topics include queer and trans* cinema, eco-cinema and the post-human. Finally, readers interested in the history of film will find essays addressing the methodological dimensions of feminist film history, essays on silent and studio era women in film, and histories of female filmmakers in a variety of non-Western contexts.

This comprehensive collection of all new essays assembles major theoretical approaches to cinema, gender, and spectatorship, covering the intersections with other discourses such as class, ethnicity, sexuality, stars, genres, new media, and feminist modes of address. Bringing together leading figures in the field, the volume provides an overview of cinema and gender, while also reflecting a desire to rethink some of the ways in which feminist film theory and filmmaking are historicized, theorized, and taught. Essays are organised into five parts, each highlighting key areas and approaches. The Companion will be an important resource for researchers and students.