One of the most critical issues in film and media studies is how images create a sense of authenticity. Largely absent from debates in this area is the key role of sound in representations of reality. This book tackles the theory and significance of sound and its contribution to systems of meaning and semiotics. Particularly unique to the volume are the insights that emerge from interactions between film theorists and practitioners, who work on the relationship between sound and image, and visual anthropologists investigating the importance of sound in human communication and ritual and the creation of meaning and cosmologies. This stimulating book advances the disciplines of film and media studies, visual anthropology, and cultural studies.