Historical Dictionary of Middle Eastern Cinema

By (author) Terri Ginsberg, Chris Lippard

Hardback - £150.00

Publication date:

15 September 2020

Length of book:

704 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781538139042

To a substantial degree cinema has served to define the perceived character of the peoples and nations of the Middle East. This book covers the production and exhibition of the cinema of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabi, Yemen, Kuwait, and Bahrain, as well as the non-Arab states of Turkey and Iran, and the Jewish state of Israel.

This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Middle Eastern Cinema contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on individual films, filmmakers, actors, significant historical figures, events, and concepts, and the countries themselves. It also covers the range of cinematic modes from documentary to fiction, representational to animation, generic to experimental, mainstream to avant-garde, and entertainment to propaganda. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Middle Eastern cinema.

This second edition of a work first published a decade ago includes the same main features as its predecessor—a chronology, dictionary, filmography, and bibliography—and retains the nuanced approach regarding the entwinement of Middle Eastern cinema and politics that characterizes the earlier edition. The updating is extensive: e.g., the chronology of Middle Eastern cinematic events now extends to 2020; the filmography has grown from 65 pages to 74 pages; and the excellent bibliography has increased by 5 pages. Overall, the volume is some 200 pages longer than its predecessor. The heart of the volume, the dictionary proper, covers the same sorts of material as the first edition did—major films, performers, directors, film festivals, genres, and movements; film-centered organizations and government entities; Middle Eastern national cinemas; and important themes in Middle Eastern cinema (e.g., exile and diaspora, Islam, nationalism, women)—but more extensively. The 2020 volume profiles 330 people and 216 films. . . The updating of this dictionary makes it a required resource for those seeking current, comprehensive information on Middle Eastern cinema in one volume. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-and upper-division undergraduates; graduate students.