The New Wave Cinema in Iran: A Critical Study

by Parviz Jahed

Overview

The New Wave Cinema in Iran is a historical and analytical study of the Iranian New Wave Cinema (Mowj-e No) as an artistic and intellectual movement that came to its best early productions between 1958 and 1978. As the movement has a long history, Parviz Jahed focuses on the development and the early progression of the movement in the 1960s and explores its emergence and development in the context of the cultural and social conditions of Iran during this period.

Jahed first defines the term 'New Wave' in Iran's film culture, in order to identify the root elements that gave traction to this movement. He analyses the degree to which different elements and factors have contributed to the formation of this cinema, accounting for the different approaches of Iranian intellectual filmmakers towards modernity and a modern form of cinema in Iran. The book finishes by studying the works of three intellectual figures and influential filmmakers of the 1960s, Ebrahim Golestan, Farrokh Ghaffari, and Feraydoon Rahnama, who are arguably considered the forerunners of the New Wave Cinema in Iran.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501369124
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/30/2022
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Parviz Jahed holds a PhD in Modern Languages at the University of Saint Andrews, UK. He is a film scholar and researcher and his research interests include film studies, film criticism, and world cinema, specifically Iranian cinema. Parviz is the editor-in-chief of Cine-Eye film journal focused on independent and art cinema, and the editor of the Directory of World Cinema: Iran (in 2 volumes) published in 2012 and 2017. He was also the guest editor of the special issue of Film International Journal on Iranian independent cinema (2015).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction
1. The Iranian New Wave (Mowj-e No)
a. Recognition of and challenging Mowj-e No
2. The Internal Factors
a. Cinema and the Negotiation of Modernity in Iran b. The Emergence of National Cinema c. Nativism vs. Westoxication (Gharbzadegi)
d. The Enablement and Obstructionism of the State e. The Mechanisms of Censorship f. The Establishment of Cultural Institutions and Film Centres
3. Looking for an Alternative Cinema in Iran
a. Status of Critical Film Discourse in the 1960s Iran b. Intellectual Cinema and Challenging Filmfarsi
c. New Wave, the Lost Identity and Manifestation of Utopian Cinema
4. New Wave and the Literary Tradition
a. Adaptation from Persian Classical Literature b. Later Fantasy and Folktales c. Interaction between Mowj-e No and Modern Literature
5. The External Influences
a. The Footprint of Italian Neorealism b. The Global Impact of the French Nouvelle Vague c. The French Nouvelle Vague and the Iranian Mowj-e No
d. Freydoun Hoveyda, the Auteur Theory and Iran's New Wave
6. The Forerunners of the New Wave Cinema in Iran
a. Ebrahim Golestan and Writing with a Camera b. The Legacy of Farrokh Ghaffari c. Fereydoun Rahnema and his Self-Reflexive Cinema
7. New Wave Successors and New Film Aesthetics
a. Formalistic Approach in Mowj-e No
b. Social Realism and Street Film Genre

Afterword
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Parviz Jahed provides a fascinating account of the development of Iranian New Wave Cinema, tracing both the local factors behind its emergence and the international influences informing the aesthetic richness of the films. Importantly, Jahed considers how New Wave filmmakers were both hindered and helped by the state and assesses the critical discourses that emerged as a small group of filmmakers attempted to challenge popular cinematic conventions in Iran in the 1960s to establish an intellectual, more artistic cinematic practice.” —Michelle Langford, Associate Professor, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

From the Publisher