Adam Bingham is a film lecturer and writer. His expertise is in Japanese film and his book Contemporary Japanese Cinema Since Hana-B was published in 2015 by Edinburgh University Press. He is also regular contributor to publications such as Cineaste, CineAction, Asian Cinema and others. 

 Founded in 1967, Cineaste is today widely regarded as one of the most important film quarterlies published anywhere in the world. The journal’s unique editorial focus is reflected in the in-depth nature of its feature articles and interviews, as well as its reviews, written by leading film critics, journalists, and scholars.

  1. Was there a specific moment that kickstarted your love of cinema?

Not really a specific moment. I was studying popular music at college and, having always been a film fan and avid cinema-goer, I found myself spending a lot of time perusing their library of films, including numerous world cinema titles, and I couldn’t get enough. I changed to studying film shortly thereafter.

2) Is there a specific film genre that’s your favourite?

I would say there is no genre that I wouldn’t watch and that hasn’t produced films I hold very dear. As to a favourite I think perhaps the Western as I found films by Ford, Mann and Peckinpah some of the most interesting to study in my formative academic years. Plus my expertise is in Japanese film and the crossover between westerns and samurai films is fascinating to consider. I also hold the Japanese Shomin-Geki, or home drama, as a personal favourite.

3) Which article that you’ve written for Cineaste are you most proud of?

The article I wrote on Éric Rohmer and his Six Moral Tales is the one I am most proud of. These are among my favourite films and ER among my favourite filmmakers — bar none — and I actually received notice from some established critics about the quality of this piece. This made me very happy.

‘Men, Women, and the Limits of Desire: Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales’ by Andy Bingham (Spring 2021)

4) What do you think is the biggest way the film industry has changed over the last 20 years?

I think distribution and exhibition are the biggest industrial tenets whose post-digital transformation has resulted in the biggest and most far-reaching changes. The way films are shown and consumed now has changed immeasurably in a very short period of time, something exacerbated by Covid.

5) Do you have any work coming out soon that you’d like to let our readers know about?

For Cineaste I am always providing reviews, and am proud and happy to do so. Elsewhere I am currently completing work on representing eco-disasters in Japanese cinema and on popular Bengali filmmaking and Aparna Sen. These are due to be published in academic books next year.

Cineaste’s modern archive, dating back to 2014.

Thank you Adam for participating in the #MeetTheContributor blog series. We enjoyed finding out more your love of cinema, favourite genres, and how you think the film industry has changed over the last 20 years.

Digital subscriptions to Cineaste are available in the Exact Editions individual and institutional shop. These include unlimited and fully-searchable access to the modern archive, stretching back to 2014.