Reconceptualising extreme art film as transnational cinema

Extreme art cinema has often been placed within a Franco-centric framework whereby the aesthetic and thematic concerns of the narratives are placed within French traditions of transgression. This article seeks to interrogate this trend, and assert that extreme art cinema and its particular modes of inversion, hybridisation and provocation, are implicated within an ongoing history of transnational exchanges and conversations. Using landmark examples of extreme art cinema, this article provides a snapshot of the ways cinematic extremity travels between national production contexts, drawing together a series of culturally diverse narratives. Through this exploration, the article puts forth a more expansive canon based around the key principles of transnationalism, and notes the manner in which these narratives share, trade and exchange thematic concerns, aesthetic practices, reception cultures, exhibition platforms and key personnel.