Algorithmic Cinema and Narrative Sovereignty

<jats:p>This chapter examines how AI-powered recommendation algorithms on streaming platforms have become the primary infrastructure for accessing film cultures worldwide, analyzing the implications for the distribution of cultural power in cinema. It introduces an Algorithmic Cinema Framework built around three dynamics: algorithmic gatekeeping, the mechanisms by which recommendation systems determine film visibility; cultural standardization, the convergence of content strategies toward globally legible formats; and countercurrent practices, the strategies filmmakers, institutions, and audiences use to negotiate these constraints. The framework is applied to four cases, including Netflix's global expansion, the marginalization of non-English-language cinema in recommendation outputs, the algorithmic breakthrough of Korean cinema, and regional platforms as sites of cultural policy contestation. Drawing on platform studies and postcolonial film theory, the chapter argues that algorithmic cinema is a contested terrain whose outcomes depend on choices that can be made differently.</jats:p>