States of danger and deceit places key films (Z (1969), The Mattei Affair (1972), State of Siege (1972), The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (1975), Illustrious Corpses (1976)) and filmmakers (Costa-Gavras, Elio Petri, Francesco Rosi, Volker Schlöndorff) from across Europe into their historical, political and social contexts before considering the ways they have impacted upon politically engaged filmmakers since.

Presented in a dossier format, made up of shorter engaging pieces, this volume offers a series of contextualisations and detailed explorations of significant examples of the political thriller from across Europe.

Introduction - Rachel Hayward, Ellen Smith and Andy Willis
1. Creating a major film season at HOME. Reflections on putting together States of Danger and Deceit: European Political Thrillers in the 1970s - Andy Willis
2. France: May '68 and the development of the political thriller - Andy Willis
3. Costa-Gavras, Jorge Semprún and Yves Montand: Creating a model for a 'commercial' political cinema - Andy Willis
4. State of Siege (État de siège), Costa-Gavras, 1973 - Andy Willis
5. L'Attentat (Plot), Yves Boisset, 1972 - Andy Willis
6. Special Section (Section spéciale), Costa-Gavras, 1975 - Rachel Hayward
7. The political thriller in the context of Italian cinema - Andy Willis
8. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto), Elio Petri, 1970 - Ellen Smith
9. Killer Cop (La polizia ha le mani legate), Luciano Ercoli, 1975 - MaoHui Deng
10. West Germany: Terrorism on the doorstep - Andy Willis
11. Neither intentional nor accidental, but unavoidable: The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum - Jason Wood
12. Where the political thriller was less prevalent - Andy Willis
13. Operación Ogro (Ogro), Gillo Pontecorvo, 1979 - Fraser Elliott
14. Die Flucht (The Flight), Roland Graf, 1977 - Declan Clarke
15. Days of '36 (Meres tou '36), Theo Angelopoulos, 1972 - Eleftheria Rania Kosmidou
16. Who Is the man on the roof? - Roy Stafford
17. The legacy of the 1970s European political thriller - Andy Willis
18. The season: Films screened as part of States of Danger and Deceit
Index

Editors

Rachel Hayward is Head of Film Strategy at HOME, Manchester

Ellen Smith is a freelance film writer, programmer and educator

Andy Willis is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Salford and Senior Visiting Curator: Film at HOME, Manchester