Traditions in World Cinema Series edited by Linda Badley and R. Barton Palmer Short Films from a Small Nation: Danish Informational Cinema 1935-1965 By C. Claire Thomson 'Focusing on the institution known as Dansk Kulturfilm, Claire Thomson provides an intriguing account of Denmark's rich contributions to "useful cinema" across three decades. Thomson's sophisticated study offers rich findings based on impressive archival research, astute institutional analysis, and concept development relevant to the study of film and small nations. A powerful articulation of the public value of film, Short Films from a Small Nation is compelling.' Mette Hjort, University of Copenhagen For three decades, state-sponsored short filmmaking educated Danish citizens, promoted Denmark to the world and shaped the careers of renowned directors like Carl Th. Dreyer. The first book-length study in English of a national corpus of state-sponsored informational film, this volume traces how Danish shorts on topics including social welfare, industry, art and architecture were commissioned, funded, produced and reviewed from the inter-war period up to the 1960s. Examining the life cycle of a representative selection of films, and discussing their preservation and mediation in the digital age, Short Films from a Small Nation presents a detailed case study of how informational cinema is shaped by - and indeed shapes - its cultural, political and technological contexts. C. Claire Thomson is a Senior Lecturer in Scandinavian Film at UCL. Cover image: Ingolf Boisen directing (1949). Courtesy of the Danish Film Institute. Cover design: River Design, Edinburgh