Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version Abbasian, K (2019) Damascus Time: the resurgence of Iranian ‘Sacred Defence’ Cinema. The Middle East in London, 15 (2). DOI Link to record in KAR https://kar.kent.ac.uk/88869/ Document Version Publisher pdf Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html Volume 15 - Number 2 February – March 2019 £4 TTHISHIS ISSUEISSUE: IIRANIANRANIAN CINEMACINEMA ● IIndianndian camera,camera, IranianIranian heartheart ● TThehe lliteraryiterary aandnd dramaticdramatic rootsroots ofof thethe IranianIranian NewNew WaveWave ● DDystopicystopic TTehranehran inin ‘Film‘Film Farsi’Farsi’ popularpopular ccinemainema ● PParvizarviz SSayyad:ayyad: socio-politicalsocio-political commentatorcommentator dresseddressed asas villagevillage foolfool ● TThehe nnoiroir worldworld ooff MMasudasud KKimiaiimiai ● TThehe rresurgenceesurgence ofof IranianIranian ‘Sacred‘Sacred Defence’Defence’ CinemaCinema ● AAsgharsghar Farhadi’sFarhadi’s ccinemainema ● NNewew diasporicdiasporic visionsvisions ofof IranIran ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews andand eventsevents inin LondonLondon Volume 15 - Number 2 February – March 2019 £4 TTHISHIS IISSUESSUE: IIRANIANRANIAN CCINEMAINEMA ● IIndianndian ccamera,amera, IIranianranian heartheart ● TThehe lliteraryiterary aandnd ddramaticramatic rootsroots ooff thethe IIranianranian NNewew WWaveave ● DDystopicystopic TTehranehran iinn ‘Film-Farsi’‘Film-Farsi’ ppopularopular ccinemainema ● PParvizarviz SSayyad:ayyad: ssocio-politicalocio-political commentatorcommentator dresseddressed aass vvillageillage ffoolool ● TThehe nnoiroir wworldorld ooff MMasudasud KKimiaiimiai ● TThehe rresurgenceesurgence ooff IIranianranian ‘Sacred‘Sacred DDefence’efence’ CinemaCinema ● AAsgharsghar FFarhadi’sarhadi’s ccinemainema ● NNewew ddiasporiciasporic visionsvisions ooff IIranran ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews aandnd eeventsvents inin LLondonondon Sam Beklik, The Eye. Specially designed for the 'Iranian About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) Cinema' issue of The Middle East in London www.sambeklik.com Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defi ned and helps to create links between Volume 15 – Number 2 individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. February–March 2019 With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also Editorial Board has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle East. 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ISSN 1743-7598 Contents 4 17 EDITORIAL Asghar Farhadi’s cinema: a family torn apart 5 Asal Bagheri LMEI Board of Trustees INSIGHT Indian camera, Iranian heart 19 Baroness Valerie Amos (Chair) Director, SOAS Ranjita Ganesan Imagining homeland from a Dr Orkideh Behrouzan, SOAS distance: new diasporic visions Professor Stephen Hopgood, SOAS 7 of Iran Dr Lina Khatib, Chatham House IRANIAN CINEMA Saeed Zeydabadi-Nejad Dr Dina Matar, SOAS Th e literary and dramatic roots Dr Hanan Morsy African Development Bank of the Iranian New Wave REVIEWS Professor Scott Redford, SOAS Saeed Talajooy FILMS Mr James Watt, CBRL 21 9 ‘Poets of Life’ & ‘Puzzleys’, part Cinema of urban crisis: of the Karestan series dystopic Tehran in ‘Film Farsi’ Taraneh Dadar popular cinema LMEI Advisory Council Golbarg Rekabtalaei 22 Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) BOOKS IN BRIEF Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem 11 H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait Parviz Sayyad: socio-political 24 Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani commentator dressed as IN MEMORIAM Arab International Women’s Forum village fool Roger Owen (1935-2018) Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa President, University College of Bahrain Roya Arab Sami Zubaida Professor Tony Allan King’s College and SOAS Dr Alanoud Alsharekh 13 25 Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS Th e noir world of Masud EVENTS IN LONDON Mr Farad Azima NetScientifi c Plc Kimiai Dr Noel Brehony MENAS Associates Ltd. Parviz Jahed Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna British Egyptian Society 15 HE Mr Rami Mortada Ambassador, Embassy of Lebanon Damascus Time: the resurgence of Iranian ‘Sacred Defence’ Cinema Kaveh Abbasian February – March 2019 The Middle East in London 3 IIRANIANRANIAN CCINEMAINEMA Kaveh Abbasian contrasts the ideals of state-funded Sacred Defence Cinema with modern realities DDamascusamascus TTime:ime: tthehe rresurgenceesurgence ooff IIranianranian ‘‘SacredSacred DDefence’efence’ CCinemainema ISIS commander and captive Iranian pilot in Syria. Backstage photo from Ebrahim Hatamikia's Damascus Time (2018). Photograph by Owj Arts and Media Organisation n 2018, Iranian media outlets In 1989 aft er watching Hatamikia’s Revolution’. He started to believe that associated with the Islamic third fi lm Th e Immigrant, Morteza Avini, creating a new Islamic inspired form of IRevolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) an iconic fi lmmaker/writer of Sacred cinema ‘freed from the shackles of the insisted that a fi lm called Damascus Defence Cinema wrote, ‘Hatamikia blows dominant Western cinema’ was possible. Time, directed by Ebrahim Hatamikia, be his whole existence into the frames, and In 1993, while shooting a documentary submitted as the Iranian representative each time he sets himself on fi re so that about the war, Avini was killed by a to the Oscars. Th eir bid, to their outrage, his fl ames can shed a light, and each landmine. He did not live long enough to was unsuccessful and another fi lm was time like a phoenix, he gains life from witness the later fi lms and the downfall submitted. But why is the IRGC suddenly that fi re’. With this fi lm Avini had found of his ‘phoenix’. In 1998, Hatamikia interested