The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation and Identity

by Richard Tapper

Overview

Iranian cinema is today widely recognized not merely as a distinctive national cinema, but as one of the most innovative in the world. Established masters like Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf have been joined by newcomers like Samira Makhmalbaf, Majid Majidi, Ja'far Qobadi and Bahman Qobadi, all directors whose films are screened to increasing acclaim in international festivals. This international stature both fascinates Western observers and appears paradoxical in line with perceptions of Iran as anti-modern. The largely Iranian contributors to this book look in depth at how Iranian cinema became a true 'world cinema'. From a range of perspectives, they explore cinema's development in post Revolution Iran and its place in Iranian culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781860648038
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/24/2002
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Richard Tapper is Professor of Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. His books include A Taste of Thyme (edited with Sami Zubaida) and Islam in Modern Turkey (I.B.Tauris).

Table of Contents

Islamizing Film Culture in Iran: A Post-Khatami Update
• Classical Tools, Original Goals: Cinema and Public Policy in the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979-1997)
• The Crisis in the Iranian Film Industry and the Role of Government
• Perspectives on Recent International Acclaim for Iranian Cinema
• Politics and Cinema in Post-revolutionary Iran: An Uneasy Relationship
• Dead Certainties: The Early Makhmalbaf
• A Ghost in the Machine: the Cinema of Iranian Sacred Defence
• Negotiating the Politics of Gender in Iran: An Ethnography of a Documentary
• Location and Cultural Identity in Iranian Films
• Chaste Dolls and Unchaste Dolls: Women in Iranian Cinema since 1979
• Children in Contemporary Iranian Cinema: When we were Children
• Marking Gender and Difference in the Myth of the Nation: Bashu, a Post-revolutionary Iranian Film

Editorial Reviews

""This anthology...seems to me to be an excellent place to start learning!"" --Charlotte Sjoholm, Film International

The essays provide a cultural, social, economic and political context for the films and their makers...
-Film magazine

An indispensable book for contextualising some of the most exciting movies being made.
-Sight & Sound

From the Publisher