This author delves into the intersection of film, art, and cultural identity within her work. Her documentaries and scholarly writings deeply engage with Arab cinema, analyzing themes of gender, class, and nation. Through her creative and academic approach, she offers valuable insights into cultural expressions and their societal contexts.
Documentary Film Esthetics in the Middle East and North Africa
326 pages
12 hours of reading
Focusing on the evolution of documentary film in the Middle East and North Africa, this book explores how various documentary styles emerged in response to revolutionary and emancipatory movements throughout the twentieth century in the Arab World. It highlights the intersection of film and political change, offering insights into the role of documentaries in shaping social narratives and historical understanding in the region.
Since it was first published in 1998, Viola Shafik’s Arab History and Cultural Identity has become an indispensable work for scholars of film and the contemporary Middle East. Combining detailed narrative history―economic, ideological, and aesthetic―with thought-provoking analysis, Arab Cinema provides a comprehensive overview of cinema in the Arab world, tracing the industry’s development from colonial times to the present. It analyzes the ambiguous relationship with commercial western cinema, and the effect of Egyptian market dominance in the region. Tracing the influence on the medium of local and regional art forms and modes of thought, both classical and popular, Shafik shows how indigenous and external factors combine in a dynamic process of “cultural repackaging.” Now updated to reflect cultural shifts in the last two decades, this revised edition contains a new afterword highlighting the latest developments in popular and in art-house filmmaking, with a special focus on Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and the Gulf States. While exploring problematic issues such as European co-production for Arab art films, including their relation to cultural identity and their reception in the region and abroad, this new edition introduces readers to some of the most compelling cinematic works of the last decades.
