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In:Translation Studies between Disciplines and Practices
Edited by Luc van Doorslaer and Yves Gambier
[Benjamins Translation Library 174] 2026
► pp. 144–164

Chapter 8
Film studies and translation studies

A translational cinema?

 | University of Roehampton
 | Monash University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
In this chapter, Dionysios Kapsaskis (DK) and Tessa Dwyer (TD) discuss a range of historical, theoretical and practical issues at the intersection of film and translation. Drawing from their respective core disciplines — translation studies for Kapsaskis and film studies for Dwyer — as well as from an expanding body of cross disciplinary writings and other sources, they examine questions such as the following: the role of translation in the development of cinema as a modern art form and the possibility of a translational history of film; the critical affordances of what may be called “a translational lens into film,” bringing into focus the cinematic representation of (linguistic) difference but also the asymmetrical relations of power in the distribution and reception of films across borders; and the impact of translation automation technologies on audiovisual translation and translators. Looking at both mainstream and “errant” film translation practices, Kapsaskis and Dwyer debate the paradoxical role of film translation as both an enabling mechanism for the expression of audience particularity and an instrument of homogenization and perpetuation of myths of universality that have surrounded cinema since its inception.
Article outline
  • 1.Translation and film history
  • 2.Universality and particularity in film (and) translation
  • 3.Mainstream cinema and audiovisual translation
  • 4.Asymmetries of power and errant film translation practices
  • 5.Translation, reproduction and transformation in the digital age
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Author queries
  • References
  • Films cited
References (57)
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Films cited
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