The forty‐fourth edition of the International Film Guide is a welcome return to a well established reference book. The 2008 Guide arrives after a year's hiatus, and brings a new editor, Ian Haydn Smith. The edition also introduces new sponsors – Turner Classic Movies, who have taken over after spells from Variety and The Guardian.
The Guide, as in previous years, is split into very distinctive sections, beginning with various commentators presenting their Directors of the Year. This is a fascinating insight into five directors from across the globe, and demonstrates what the Guide achieves so neatly throughout its 424 pages. By selecting and celebrating relatively unknown directors such as Faith Akin and Jia Zhangke alongside the more commercial Paul Greengrass and the genre film maker Guillermo del Toro, the Guide shows how it values creative activity from diverse areas of the industry, including those that are sometimes overshadowed by Hollywood.
The country in focus for this edition is Germany. The section itself is valuable as a glance at the state of the country's cinema, celebrating industry highs such as the release of Run Lola, Run in 1998, whilst bemoaning its shortcomings such as the tendency of Germanic commercial film makers to produce “dopey regional comedies, dusty police procedurals, weirdly passionless romances”.
The main part of the volume is the country‐by‐country section. This is structured alphabetically, and handles 74 countries within the main section, with a further 25 within a smaller Other Countries section. Although arranged logically, it does mean that studying the output of a larger geographical area such as Eastern Europe is less natural. However, the individual entries for the countries are spot on. Each one is an in‐depth analysis of that country's industry. The pertinent commentary is peppered with information on salient developments in related areas and covers trends that affect the industry from cinema attendance amongst the population to government tax initiatives for film makers to enjoy. Combining entertaining and informative snatches with stills illustrating filmic output, the entries feel frugal yet fully fleshed out. This is the section where the Guide really delivers on its promise to be the “definitive annual review of world cinema” and it is perfectly complemented by the World Box Office Survey. This is a fascinating and accurate comparison of the top ten films by box office for each country.
Other successful commentary includes the brief In Memoriam section, and an insightful in‐depth focus on international documentary film making. Also included in this edition is a special focus on the DVD market, which feels rather lightweight in content. Less successful still is the Film Festivals section, which although in‐depth, does feel unnecessary in its inclusion.
The re‐launch also enjoys a new publisher in Wallflower Press, who have a long tradition of publishing works devoted to cinema and the moving image. In addition to the new editor and publisher, and as noted above, the forty‐fourth edition also brings a new sponsor to the Guide. And this commercial aspect of the volume is where the publication does stumble. At 424 pages long, there are about 30 full‐page advertisements, with many more of half and quarter length punctuating the volume. Although arguably a necessity in such a niche market publication (the publishers even optimistically include an index to advertisers), it does mean that the useful content is somewhat harshly interrupted by the brash and bold commercials breaking through.
There are over 40 contributors to the Guide, and although the mix of styles grates when reading the volume as a whole, this shouldn't pose too much of a distraction for the reader consulting the volume as a reference tool. As noted, there was no 2007 edition, but the gap is comfortably bridged by the inclusion of data from 2006 and 2007 within this edition.
Although the International Film Guide has been published since 1963, this edition feels as fresh as ever. Belonging in the reference section of any library, it constitutes an invaluable resource for both cineastes and casual film watchers alike.
