A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Volume 2

While the first two volumes that I have had the pleasure to review here are indeed comprehensive, covering great depth and breadth, I find Naficy to be a very open, collegial scholar whose work certainly does not close down the field. Rather, at times, Naficy openly signals that more research is still to be conducted into certain areas ensuring that the field of Iranian cinema studies may live on with vital and vibrant energy. Graduate students in particular should take heed of these openings in the text, for therein lie great possibilities for future, compelling and original scholarship in the field.... I can only conclude my review by emphasizing what I said in my opening comment: this is rich, compelling, and complex scholarship at its very finest. Thanks Hamid! - Michelle Langford, Senses of Cinema These volumes reveal the unspoken side of Iranian culture, society and history within the context of film and cinema. This marvellously detailed account of Iranian cinema is a must-read for anyone who is interested in understanding Iran in the past and present, a true story of a long-term, ongoing revolution in Iranian culture, society and film. - Arezou Zalipour, Media International Australia A Social History of Iranian Cinema is an extraordinary achievement, a scholarly, detailed work in which a massive amount of material is handled with the lightest touch. Yet it is Hamid Naficys personal experience and investment that give this project a particular distinction. Only a skilled historian, one who is on the inside of his story, could convey so vividly the symbolic significance of cinema for twentieth-century Iran and its deep intertwining with national culture and politics.Laura Mulvey, author of Death 24 a Second: Stillness and the Moving Image Hamid Naficy is already established as the doyen of historians, as well as critics, of Iranian cinema. Based on his deep understanding of modern Iranian political and social history, this detailed critical study of cinema in Iran since its debut more than a century ago is his crowning achievement. To say that it is a must-read for virtually all concerned with modern Iranian history, and not just cinema and the arts, is to state the obvious.Homa Katouzian, author of The Persians: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Iran Hamid Naficy seamlessly brings together a century of Irans cinematic history, marking its technological advancements and varying genres and storytelling techniques, and perceptively addressing its sociopolitical impact on the formation of Irans national identity. A Social History of Iranian Cinema is essential reading not only for the cinephile interested in Irans unique and rich cinematic history but also for anyone wanting a deeper understanding of the cataclysmic events and metamorphoses that have shaped Iran, from the pivotal Constitutional Revolution that ushered in the twentieth century through the Islamic Revolution, and into the twenty-first century.Shirin Neshat, visual artist, filmmaker, and director of the film Women Without Men This magisterial four-volume study of Iranian cinema will be the defining work on the topic for a long time to come. Situating film within its sociopolitical context, Hamid Naficy covers the period leading up to the Constitutional Revolution and continues after the Islamic Revolution, examining questions about modernity, globalization, Islam, and feminism along the way. A Social History of Iranian Cinema is a guide for our thinking about cinema and society and the ways that the creative expression of film should be examined as part of a wider engagement with social issues.Annabelle Sreberny, coauthor of Blogistan: The Internet and Politics in Iran These volumes reveal the unspoken side of Iranian culture, society and history within the context of film and cinema. This marvellously detailed account of Iranian cinema is a must-read for anyone who is interested in understanding Ir

Hamid Naficy is Professor of Radio-Television-Film and the Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in Communication at Northwestern University. He is the author of An Accented Cinema: Exilic and Diasporic Filmmaking, The Making of Exile Cultures: Iranian Television in Los Angeles, and (in Persian) Film-e Mostanad, a two-volume history of nonfiction cinema around the world. Naficy helped to launch ongoing annual Iranian film festivals in Los Angeles and Houston.

List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiii Organization of the Volumes xxi A Word about Illustrations xxvii List of Abbreviations xxix 1. International Haggling over Iranian Public Screens 1 2. The Statist Documentary Cinema and Its Alternatives 49 3. Commercial Cinema's Evolution: From Artisanal Mode to Hybrid Production 147 4. Family Melodramas and Comedies: The Stewpot Movie Genre 197 5. Males, Masculinity, and Power: The Tough-Guy Movie Genre and Its Evolution 261 6. A Dissident Cinema: New-Wave Films and the End of an Era 325 Notes 433 Bibliography 473 Index 497