Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema

by Hamid Dabashi, Edward W. Said (preface)

Over the last quarter-century, Palestinian cinema has emerged as a major artistic force on the global scene. Deeply rooted in the historic struggles for national self-determination, this cinema is the single most important artistic expression of a much-maligned people. In Dreams of a Nation , filmmakers, critics and scholars discuss the extraordinary social and artistic significance of Palestinian film. It is the only volume of its kind in any language.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Cultural, Middle East

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2006

About the author

Born 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.

Reviews

[venezuela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filmmakers from Palestine grew up on no cinema. Unless they were émigrés or second generation Palestinians, etc., those who managed to go abroad for studies/in filmmaking or whichever field. Getting a visa for Palestinians (like many others) to study a filmmaking course or any other course in say, the U.S. has always been difficult, even if they get good scholarships. This anthology discusses the various aspects to Philistine (which according to the online dictionary is a derogatory term I don’t understand; but the name of the fansite itself is www.philistinefilms.org) filmmakers’ entry into cinema and what has sustained them: production money/help from abroad, challenges of post-production abroad (example censorship of portions to make it “airable” for viewing in countries outside of Palestine, since they cant be aired in Palestine anyways, because of so much patrol; in fact shooting is so difficult, some/most directors were banned from returning to Palestine after their films were made). Many of these notes/stories are by filmmakers, who talk about the external life of their films, nature of festivals, and the challenges faced while shooting, production and marketing. There isn’t too much money to be made in Middle Eastern cinema, and so a lot of the work is dependent on production/backing from Western neighbours.
Then there is the argument of cinema in exile. Culture of exile. This book tells me everything I want to know about how Palestinian filmmakers are working out their internal struggles, their country’s history, the pressures of limited art space, and dealing with their art products. Importantly, how they are marking their presence in festivals internationally, college campuses, etc. and entering into and winning competitions and gaining better distribution. Particular favorites were Annemarie Jacir (as director of the first feature film by female director in Palestine), and Mohammad Bakri, and the making of his difficult movie Jenin, Jenin). Annemarie for example, is able to disseminate her tapes, etc. thanks to her sister who has American citizenship and passport and can visit Ramallah anytime (where a lot of the film was shot, and now forbidden for Annemarie), and Annemarie will not be able to arttend the world premiering of her own movie in Palestine in october, but her sister would.

I don’t know, this book was a good read for me, because I happened to attend an Arab film festival. I’ve been so tired out by the kind of movies from Bollywood, yes and its not just scripts its also the casting; all the cast in the movies are so real, (as are the movies—so familiar, and the worst of the familiar) it’s depressing to see people acting their own parts, tired of their own parts, and in the industry pushed to fame and happiness, and reality-tv ness.
That I’ve gotten film fatigue.

So the Arab movies were refreshing: the Arabs know romance, and wouldn’t market something else for it, you know? Maybe I don’t know. But there is this thing about walking into an Indian living room, and finding everything made to fit, forced to fit. Ditto the Indian romance. Not just adaptable, but mathematically so, incongruously so . bollywoods goofy, and wants to be loved by the west. Arab cinema is more counter-adaptive. Or more, the historically real, the forever forever cinema. But that’s just romance talking.

I don’t even know Arabic.

[Zohra Star · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is edited by Hamid Dabashi with a foreward by the great Edward Said. It is a phenomenal collection documenting the struggles of Palestinian filmmakers to represent themselves. My favorite so far are Annemarie Jacir's essay on organizing this historic Palestinian Diaspora film festival at Columbia. Read this! Then watch whatever is available at netflix.