Iran's Reel Spectre

From the beginning of the twentieth century until the 1979 Revolution—and for more than thirty years since then—Iranian cinema has had to change dramatically to accommodate the numerous shifts in the country’s political, economic, and social environments. Iran hasn’t had a national cinema in all this time, but rather many national cinemas, including early comedies and Film Farsi, the new wave and children’s films, religious pictures, art house, and women’s cinema.

In Iran’s Reel Spectre: Cinematic Story of a Nation, Proshot Kalami investigates the complexities of the aesthetic and intellectual movements that shaped Iranian ideas of film and she allows the reader to understand the inner workings of Iran’s post-Revolution history, as well as the influence of its Persian and Islamic heritage. Kalami enables the international reader to explore Iranian cinema’s relationship to the international market and to examine this vibrant art form within and alongside the cultural context that produces it.