Cinemas, Identities and Beyond contributes to one of the most thought-provoking contemporary debates on cinemas and identities in film studies. It gathers 15 essays that explore different dimensions of identities in contexts ranging from domestic spheres, urban milieus, socio-political environments, diasporic film-making issues, anthropology, film festivals, psychoanalysis, to the examination of stardom in society. The anthology establishes a framework that actively queries stabilised, ideological paradigms by examining different modes of representing and constructing identities in and through the medium of film. In doing so, it transcends the narrow confines of the local / national / regional, and challenges spatial and temporal boundaries.

Many of the essays represent the most advanced research in the field. Others revisit films such as The Matrix trilogy, The Straight Story, and Days of Being Wild in order to discover new discourses to help better understand ourselves and our surroundings when another decade of the new millennium is about to begin.