Suchergebnisse

Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Introduction: Modalities of Solidarity -- Chapter 1: After Al-Aqsa -- Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land -- Zero Degrees of Separation -- Still Life -- Notes -- Interlude A - The Global Indigenous -- Chapter 2: Revisiting Prior Commitments -- Occupied Palestine -- To Live in Freedom -- The Palestinian -- Notes -- Interlude B - Causes and Effects -- Chapter 3: Distant Neighbors -- Canary -- Gate of The Sun -- The Promise -- Notes -- Conclusion: A Time for Change -- Notes -- Filmography -- Bibliography -- Index

Despite and perhaps because of Joseph Massad's scathing critique of the 'Gay International', and of Israeli 'pinkwashing' efforts, scholarly theorization of sexuality in Arab cinema has been minimal. Within this context, upon which this article elaborates, I offer recommendations for scholarly movement forward in the area of Arab film sexualities, by analysing the intellectual limitations of extant allegorical and auteurist approaches to the subject, and in turn suggest conceptual means towards a more substantive film analytic praxis. In so doing, I draw from critiques of Massad's position as well as of the pinkwashing agenda, both of which have emerged from and around an interdisciplinary array of texts focusing on homonationalism, homonormativity and homocapitalism; while critiquing the concomitant fact that the majority of such texts marginalize or absent Arab same sexualities and Middle Eastern cultures generally, insofar as they retain an unproblematized transnationalist orientation.

Abstract
During the 1950–70s, film production in Iraq was relatively prolific. Private industry eventually gave way to nationalization under Ba'th Party rule. Not unlike Iraqi cinema of the colonial era, most post-independence Iraqi cinema had the ideological aim of propping up the new regime while supplying light entertainment to the populace. A minor auteur cinema did develop, which produced a small number of critical independent films, but the movement was short-lived. The bulk of quality film production in Iraq occurred during the period of nationalization. This development eventually led to the establishment of a film school in Baghdad. Since the Iran–Iraq War, national film production in Iraq effectively ended. This is not to say that films publicized as 'Iraqi' have not been produced in recent years; on the contrary, a small but noteworthy number of 'Iraqi' films have been made, primarily for international distribution, largely by Iraqi ex-patriots to (and from) Europe and with financial support from private foreign sources. This article discusses two such films, Zaman: The Man from the Reeds (Alwan, 2003), and Ahlaam (al-Daradji, 2006), comparing and contrasting their differing but overlapping strategies, which evidence the suffering of Iraqis living under conditions of war and violence. These strategies at the same time in varying ways distract or distort attention from the real determinants of those conditions. By extension the article draws critical connections between the aims and orientations of new 'Iraqi' cinema and the hasbara cultural initiatives of contemporary Israel.

Abstract

Review of: Farha, Darin J. Sallam (Dir.) (2021), Jordan, Sweden and Saudi Arabia: Talebox and Laika Film and Television

Abstract
The Journey of an Iraqi Pan-Arabist
My Memoirs: Half a Century of the History of Iraq and the Arab Cause, Tawfiq al-Suwaydi (2013) Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 545 pp., Introduction by Antony T. Sullivan, translation by Nancy Roberts ISBN 978-1-58826-903-4 (hbk), $55.00
Reclaiming Iraq: The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State, Abbas Kadhim (2012) Austin: University of Texas Press, Contains index, 213 pp., ISBN: 978-0-292-73924-6 (hbk), $55.00
Breaking Iraq – The Ten Mistakes That Broke Iraq, Ted Spain and Terry Turchie (2013) Palisades, NY: History Publishing Co., 310 pp., ISBN: 978-1-933909-53-0 (hbk), $US28.95
Media Practice in Iraq, Ahmed K. Al-Rawi (2012) London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 221 pp., ISBN 978-0-230-35452-4 (hbk), $85.00