Book excerpt: In Coming of Age on Film: Stories of Transformation in World Cinema, essays by twelve film scholars examine the theme of coming of age in the cinema of Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Through their consideration of the development that leads to transformation in individuals, nations, or even the film industry itself, these articles elucidate the connections among these diverse films. Bringing together a variety of related topics such as rites of passage, adolescence and maturity, and the literary genre of the Bildungsroman, Coming of Age on Film complements and puts into practice a variety of critical theories. Its focus on global cinema in French, Italian, and Spanish brings attention to the widely represented but minimally studied theme of coming of age. This volume will appeal to scholars in film studies and regional or national cultural studies, as well as those studying adolescence in literature and film.