From Iran to Hollywood and Some Places In-Between

Iranian cinema has had one of the most fascinating success stories in world cinema over the last twenty years, with critics in Europe and North America hailing it as an alternative to the homogenising global influence of mainstream Hollywood cinema. Christopher Gow examines how the success of this cinema and the films of its foremost proponent, Abbas Kiarostami, can be accounted for by the extent to which they fit into pre-established, seminal notions of 'art cinema'. Gow also seeks to...
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Iranian cinema has had one of the most fascinating success stories in world cinema over the last twenty years, with critics in Europe and North America hailing it as an alternative to the homogenising global influence of mainstream Hollywood cinema. Christopher Gow examines how the success of this cinema and the films of its foremost proponent, Abbas Kiarostami, can be accounted for by the extent to which they fit into pre-established, seminal notions of 'art cinema'. Gow also seeks to expand our understanding of post-revolutionary Iranian cinema by exploring the close links between the New Iranian Cinema and émigré Iranian filmmaking, from the German films of Sohrab Shahid Saless to Vadim Perlman's Oscar-nominated exploration of the Iranian experience of exile in House of Sand and Fog. The book reveals how this large and dispersed émigré Iranian cinema challenges our understanding of New Iranian Cinema itself, as well as concepts of national cinema more generally.'Gow's book valuably enhances our understanding of the cinematic efflorescence that produced Kiarostami, Makhmalbaf, Panahi and others by expanding its boundaries both temporally and geographically.' - Godfrey Cheshire, film critic and filmmaker'The book makes an important contribution to studies of Iranian cinema by offering a much needed nuanced approach that balances brilliantly the conceptual with the analytical.' - Dimitris Eleftheriotis, University of Glasgow