Several of us first met through the activities of the Middle East Caucus of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, and we wish to thank the successive chairs of that group who have devoted their time and energies to keeping the caucus active and encouraging critical scholarly discussion about the cinemas of the Middle East. In addition, we extend our appreciation to the following people who have helped us by reading draft entries, contributing information, or facilitating connections: Leonardo Alishan, Alia Arasoughly, Nirit Ben-Ari, Kay Dickinson, Mushira Eid, Fouad Elkoury, Kristen Fitzpatrick (formerly at Women Make Movies), Suzanne Gauch, Hadi Gharabaghi, Emma Hedditch at Cinenova, Tareq Ismael, Lina Khatib, Robert Lang, Peter Limbrick, Laura Marks, Rashid Masharawi, Touraj Noroozi, Darby Orcutt, Abdel Salem Shehada, Peter Sluglett, Ashkan Soltani, Sara Harris Thum, Alex Williams (formerly at at Typecast/Arab Film Distribution), Wanda vanderStoop at Vtape, Nadia Yaqub, Hadi Gharabaghi, Colleen Jankovic, and Maximiliane Zoller. From Rowman & Littlefield, we thank April Snider for her invaluable administrative support, Andrew Yoder for his exceptional editorial prowess, and Jon Woronoff, the general editor of this series, who showed great patience, acumen, and understanding as we negotiated the various issues of form and substance raised by this project over the course of its production. Finally, we thank our partners, Robin Mendelwager and Tiffany Rousculp, who have sacrificed their time to our immersion in this volume. We thank them unreservedly for their love and support.
Terri Ginsberg
The American University in Cairo
Chris Lippard
University of Utah
January 2020
Reader’s Note
The Historical Dictionary of Middle Eastern Cinema is arranged alphabetically, with text in bold indicating cross-references to other entries, both within and beyond specific national-geographical boundaries, thus mirroring the national, transnational, and international origins and breadth, and the structural parameters and contradictions, of the subject. Included in addition to the alphabetized entries are a chronology of significant events marking the approximate 110-year history of Middle Eastern cinema; a filmography of titles referenced throughout these pages; a bibliography of useful scholarly texts and reviews—arranged by region and country—that inform the material, thinking, and research contained in this volume; and a list of acronyms and abbreviations for the numerous organizations and agencies also referenced.
Insofar as the great majority of the films discussed in this volume hail from the Middle East, they have been produced in languages other than English. Many are in Arabic, a language that varies considerably across the region, while the Iranian and Turkish films are in the national languages, Persian (or Farsi) and Turkish, respectively. Most Israeli films are in Hebrew, while some films from Lebanon and the Maghreb are in French, as are most of the diasporic films referred to collectively as beur cinema. Similarly, films of the Turkish diaspora are frequently produced in German. Other languages heard in Middle Eastern cinema that are not associated with particular states are Kurdish and Berber/Tamazight.
English transliterations of film titles and the names of individuals in those covered languages which do not use the Roman alphabet (namely, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Kurdish, and Tamazight) vary considerably. Whereas all film titles are listed in the entries to this historical dictionary in their English translations, the filmography also supplies those titles in transliteration. In choosing which transliteration systems to adopt, we have tried to adhere as closely and consistently as possible to the most commonly utilized spellings and translations in scholarly texts and in regional and dialectical contexts. Thus, we have, for instance, generally tried to follow Egyptian vernacular usage in the transliterations of Arabic titles from that country, and the Levantine vernacular usage in the transliterations of Arabic titles from Palestine. The glottal stop signified by the hamza is indicated with a diacritical ’; and by the ayn with a ‘. Maghrebi film titles in Arabic are transliterated according to their preponderant Francophone spellings. The filmography lists all non-English-language films in alphabetical order according to the most commonly used English title, with non-English (and alternative English-language) titles in parentheses.
The Arabic definite article markers, el- (mostly Egyptian figures) and al-, are common, and the entries for individuals whose names begin with them should be sought under those markers. Thus, the famous Egyptian comic Naguib El-Rihani is to be found under E rather than R.
Often a key non-English word used in the text of an entry (e.g., hijab) will appear first in italics, transliterated when appropriate, and followed by the English translation parenthesized and in quotation marks. Subsequently in that entry, only the non-English word or transliteration will be used. If a non-English word has acquired common usage in Anglophone contexts (e.g., Nakba), it will appear in the entry first in italics, while subsequently the italics will be dropped. In other instances, non-English words simply follow their English translations, italicized and in parentheses. Non-English names of organizations and agencies are not differentiated with italics, and, excepting entry titles, their translations are only to be found in the Acronyms and Abbreviations section.
Chronology
1896 Egypt: The first Lumière screenings take place in the Bourse Tousson Pasha and the Zawani cafe (Alexandria) and in the Hamam Schneider (Cairo).
1897 Tunisia: The first North African film screenings of Lumière films are held in Tunis, facilitated by Albert Samama Chikly.
1896 Turkey: The first film exhibitions in Turkey are held in Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire.
1900 Iran: Iranian cinema may be said to begin with the filming of Muzaffared Shah’s trip to Ostend, Belgium, in 1900, as recorded on a newly purchased camera by court photographer Mirza Ebrahim Khan Akkasbashi.
1901 Israel: The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is founded to raise money for the establishment and maintenance of a Jewish state in the Levant; it supports the production of newsreels and documentaries to propagate that agenda.
1905–1911 Iran: The Qajar dynasty crumbles in the face of the Constitutional Revolution.
1908 Tunisia: Albert Samama Chikly opens the first cinema in the Maghreb, in Tunis.
1911 Turkey: The Manaki(a) brothers, both Ottoman citizens, film Sultan Reşat Mehmet V’s visit to Salonica and Bitola.
1914 Turkey: World War I begins in Europe, taking on a Middle Eastern dimension when the Ottoman Empire joins Germany. Fuat Uzkınay films the first purported Turkish film, The Demolition of the Russian Monument in Hagia Stephanos.
1916 The Sykes–Picot Agreement is signed, dividing much of the Middle East between British and French spheres of influence.
1917 February–October: Russian revolution begins. Egypt: The Italo-Egyptian Cinematographic Company is established by photographer Umberto Dores and others; their films are unsuccessful. Palestine: The Balfour Declaration is drafted by the English government. Turkey: The first two Turkish features are shot by Sedat Simavi, Claw and Spy.
1918 World War I ends, marking a shift in power relations between the Middle East and Europe.
1919 The Paris Peace Conference takes place; the Versailles Peace Treaty is signed.
1920 Israel: The Palestine Foundation Fund (PFF) is established