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Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present, and Future
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 . In this book Hamid Dabashi examines the growing reputation of Iranian cinema from its origines in the films of Kimiyai 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. Dabashi combines exclusive interviews with directors, detailed and insightful commentary, critical cultural context, an extensive filmography, and generous illustration to provide an indispensable guide to globally celebrated but 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.
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.
320 pages, Paperback
First published November 17, 2001
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About the author
Hamid Dabashi
75 books202 followersBorn on 15 June 1951 into a working class family in the south-western city of Ahvaz in the Khuzestan province of Iran, Hamid Dabashi received his early education in his hometown and his college education in Tehran, before he moved to the United States, where he received a dual Ph.D. in Sociology of Culture and Islamic Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.
He wrote his doctoral dissertation on Max Weber’s theory of charismatic authority with Philip Rieff (1922-2006), the most distinguished Freudian cultural critic of his time.
Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, the oldest and most prestigious Chair in his field. He has taught and delivered lectures in many North and Latin American, European, Arab, and Iranian universities. He is a founding member of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, as well as a founding member of the Center for Palestine Studies at Columbia University.
He has written 20 books, edited 4, and contributed chapters to many more. He is also the author of over 100 essays, articles and book reviews in major scholarly and peer reviewed journals on subjects ranging from Iranian Studies, medieval and modern Islam, comparative literature, world cinema, and the philosophy of art (trans-aesthetics). A selected sample of his writing is co-edited by Andrew Davison and Himadeep Muppidi, The World is my Home: A Hamid Dabashi Reader (Transaction 2010).
Hamid Dabashi is the Series Editor of Literatures and Cultures of the Islamic World for Palgrave Macmillan. This series is putting forward a critical body of first rate scholarship on the literary and cultural production of the Islamic world from the vantage point of contemporary theoretical and hermeneutic perspectives, effectively bringing the study of Islamic literatures and cultures to the wider attention of scholars and students of world literatures and cultures without the prejudices and drawbacks of outmoded perspectives.
An internationally renowned cultural critic and award-winning author, his books and articles have been translated into numerous languages, including Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Hebrew, Danish, Arabic, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Urdu and Catalan.
In the context of his commitment to advancing trans-national art and independent world cinema, Hamid Dabashi is the founder of Dreams of a Nation, a Palestinian Film Project, dedicated to preserving and safeguarding Palestinian Cinema. He is also chiefly responsible for opening up the study of Persian literature and Iranian culture at Columbia University to students of comparative literature and society, breaking away from the confinements of European Orientalism and American Area Studies.
A committed teacher in the past three decades, Hamid Dabashi is also a public speaker around the globe, a current affairs essayist, and a staunch anti-war activist. He has two grown-up children, Kaveh and Pardis, who are both Columbia University graduates, and he lives in New York with his wife and colleague, the Iranian-Swedish feminist, Golbarg Bashi, their daughter Chelgis and their son Golchin.
He wrote his doctoral dissertation on Max Weber’s theory of charismatic authority with Philip Rieff (1922-2006), the most distinguished Freudian cultural critic of his time.
Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, the oldest and most prestigious Chair in his field. He has taught and delivered lectures in many North and Latin American, European, Arab, and Iranian universities. He is a founding member of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, as well as a founding member of the Center for Palestine Studies at Columbia University.
He has written 20 books, edited 4, and contributed chapters to many more. He is also the author of over 100 essays, articles and book reviews in major scholarly and peer reviewed journals on subjects ranging from Iranian Studies, medieval and modern Islam, comparative literature, world cinema, and the philosophy of art (trans-aesthetics). A selected sample of his writing is co-edited by Andrew Davison and Himadeep Muppidi, The World is my Home: A Hamid Dabashi Reader (Transaction 2010).
Hamid Dabashi is the Series Editor of Literatures and Cultures of the Islamic World for Palgrave Macmillan. This series is putting forward a critical body of first rate scholarship on the literary and cultural production of the Islamic world from the vantage point of contemporary theoretical and hermeneutic perspectives, effectively bringing the study of Islamic literatures and cultures to the wider attention of scholars and students of world literatures and cultures without the prejudices and drawbacks of outmoded perspectives.
An internationally renowned cultural critic and award-winning author, his books and articles have been translated into numerous languages, including Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Hebrew, Danish, Arabic, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Urdu and Catalan.
In the context of his commitment to advancing trans-national art and independent world cinema, Hamid Dabashi is the founder of Dreams of a Nation, a Palestinian Film Project, dedicated to preserving and safeguarding Palestinian Cinema. He is also chiefly responsible for opening up the study of Persian literature and Iranian culture at Columbia University to students of comparative literature and society, breaking away from the confinements of European Orientalism and American Area Studies.
A committed teacher in the past three decades, Hamid Dabashi is also a public speaker around the globe, a current affairs essayist, and a staunch anti-war activist. He has two grown-up children, Kaveh and Pardis, who are both Columbia University graduates, and he lives in New York with his wife and colleague, the Iranian-Swedish feminist, Golbarg Bashi, their daughter Chelgis and their son Golchin.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 26, 2024
Addressing less of the films and more of the socio-political climate of Iran during which those films were made, Dabashi's writing is very intensive and rigorous, and the research he had done is visible through it. Most of it went way over my head as I am a layman who just wanted more insight into the works of Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The book provides that as well, but with praise, there are critiques as well and somehow manages to appreciate the directors' filmographies more.
That is, a good book, but not for light reading or for people who just want more knowledge on the craft. I'm at fault here.
That is, a good book, but not for light reading or for people who just want more knowledge on the craft. I'm at fault here.
May 9, 2016
Sinema alanında okuduğum ve çalıştığım için bu ve daha birçok kitabı daha önce okumuştum. Ancak yapacağım bir çalışma için tekrar kitabı okuduğumda, Hamid Dabashi'nin kendinden olana nasıl nesnel ve bilimsel yaklaştığını fark ettim. Bu tarz ülke sinemasını anlatan kitaplar aslında çok risklidir. Zira ülke sinemaları (Özellikle toplum yapısı yakın zamanda siyasal çalkantılardan geçmişse) bazı şişirmeler, abartmalar, yanlışlıklar ve sanattan uzaklaşmalarla dolu ifadelerle anlatılır. Bir ülkenin sinemasını anlamak için onu oluşturan kodları da doğru okuma yükümlülüğünün de olması; bu eserlerin akademik olarak yazımını zedeler. Yandaşlık ve ya duygudaşlık bu çalışmaların ortak sıkıntısıdır. Fakat Dabashi'nin bu kitabının oldukça doğru bir dille kaleme alındığını söyleyebilirim. Ülkemizde İran Sineması ile yayın bulma imkanınız aslında benzerlerine bakıldığında oldukça fazla. Humeyni'nin devriminden sonra gelişen İran Sineması, dünyada sanatsal olarak kendine yer edinebilmiş ve kendi dilini oluşturmuş bir sinema. Bu yüzden dünyada olduğu gibi ülkemizde de hem Türk yazarlar tarafından kaleme alınmış hem de çevrilmiş birçok yayın bulunmakta. Fakat bunların içerisinde en doğru tercihin bu kitap olduğunu söyleyebilirim. İran Sinemasının önemli yönetmenlerini başlık altında incelemeye çalışmış olsa da, aslında kitap kronolojik olarak okunduğunda bir anlam kazanıyor. Çünkü ülkenin bitmek bilmeyen politik çalkantıları sinemasının yapılmasını yüzde yüz bir müdahil ile etkilediğinden paralel takip etmek gerekiyor. Bu yüzden her yönetmenin anlatımında aralara saçılmış önemli bilgiler mevcut.
Sinema kitapları okumaktan hoşlanıyorsanız ya da İran Sineması için kılavuza ihtiyaç duyuyorsanız bu kitabı tercih edebilirsiniz.
10/8
Sinema kitapları okumaktan hoşlanıyorsanız ya da İran Sineması için kılavuza ihtiyaç duyuyorsanız bu kitabı tercih edebilirsiniz.
10/8
May 25, 2007
This is a great resource book on Iranian Cinema. Although, my favorite filmmaker, Majid Majidi is not in this one, the book is a great primer for Iranian Cinema.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews