Review
"Hamid Dabashi's learned book on Iranian cinema in the era of globalization sparkles with verve and a sometimes punishing wit. Encyclopaedic in its scope, informal in tone, shrew in its interpretation, it is the indispensable work on one of the most extraordinary artistic and social adventures of our time. Dabashi is the perfect guide." - Edward W. Said "With Hamid Dabashi's new book, we finally have a reading of the post-Revolutionary Iranian cinema from within Iranian culture and society. Dabshi traces the deep roots of the work of filmmakers such as Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Rakshan Bani-Etemad, and shows how their work opens up a fascinating and far-reaching interrogation of contemporary cultural production." - Richard Pena "A better understanding of Iranian cinema needed someone as much aware of its global significance as knowledgeable of its immediate social roots - Hamid Dabashi is one of those rare cultural critics who has been able to add such perspective." - Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Book Description
Abbas Kiraostami planted Iran firmly on the map of world cinema when he won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival in 1997 for his film
A Taste of Cherry. Here the growing reputation of Iranian cinema from its origins in the films of Kimiai and Mehrjui, through the work of established directors such as Kiraostami, Beyzai and Bani-Etemad, to young film-makers like Samira Makhmalbaf and Bahman Qobadi, who triumphed at the Cannes 2000 festival, is examined. Dabashi employs interviews with directors, insightful commentary on individual films, an extensive filmography, and generous illustration to provide an indispensable guide to a little-studied cinematic genre. Unabashedly polemical, he dissects the idea of the oriental in western perceptions of Iranian cinema and details the way that film festivals and distribution in the west have shaped domestic output in Iran. He looks, too, at the particular difficulties faced by women film-makers in a country of Islamic orthodoxy, and the obstacles placed in the path of directors attempting to introduce dissident politics in their work. 30 b/w photos.
