Arab Filmmakers of the Middle East
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Armes roy Armes is Professor Emeritus of Film “Constitutes a ‘counter-reading’ of Film and MEdia • MIddle EasT at Middlesex University. He has published received views and assumptions widely on world cinema. He is author of Arab Filmmakers Arab Filmmakers Dictionary of African Filmmakers (IUP, 2008). The fragmented history of Arab about the absence of Arab cinema Arab Filmmakers in the Middle East.” —michael T. martin, Middle Eastern cinema—with its Black Film Center/Archive, of the Indiana University powerful documentary component— reflects all too clearly the fragmented Middle East history of the Arab peoples and is in- “Esential for libraries and useful for individual readers who will deed comprehensible only when this find essays on subjects rarely treat- history is taken into account. While ed in English.” —Kevin Dwyer, neighboring countries, such as Tur- A D i c t i o n A r y American University in Cairo key, Israel, and Iran, have coherent the of national film histories which have In this landmark dictionary, Roy Armes details the scope and diversity of filmmak- been comprehensively documented, ing across the Arab Middle East. Listing Middle East Middle more than 550 feature films by more than the Arab Middle East has been given 250 filmmakers, and short and documentary comparatively little attention. films by another 900 filmmakers, this vol- ume covers the film production in Iraq, Jor- —from the introduction dan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and the Gulf States. An introduction by Armes locates film and filmmaking traditions in the region from early efforts in the silent era to state- funded productions by isolated filmmakers and politically engaged documentarians. Part 1 lists biographical information about the filmmakers and their feature films. INDIANA Part 2 details key feature films from the roy Armes countries represented. University Press Part 3 indexes feature-film titles in English Jacket illustration: “Jmour.” India ink and acrylic Bloomington & Indianapolis and French with details about the director, painting on linen canvas. © Nja Mahdaoui. www.iupress.indiana.edu INDIANA All rights reserved. 1-800-842-6796 date, and country of origin. Arab Filmmakers MECH hi-res.indd 1 6/15/10 10:43 AM Arab Filmmakers of the Middle East Arab Filmmakers of the Middle East A Dictionary R oy A rm E s Indiana University Press • Bloomington and Indianapolis This book is a publication of Manufactured in the United States of America Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Library of Congress Cataloging- Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA in-Publication Data www.iupress.indiana.edu Armes, Roy. Arab filmmakers of the Middle East : Telephone orders 800-842-6796 a dictionary / Roy Armes. Fax orders 812-855-7931 p. cm. Orders by e-mail [email protected] English and French. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. © 2010 by Roy Armes ISBN 978-0-253-35518-8 (cloth : alk. paper) All rights reserved 1. Motion picture producers and directors— Arab countries—Biography—Dictionaries. No part of this book may be reproduced or 2. Motion picture producers and directors— utilized in any form or by any means, electronic Arab countries—Credits. 3. Motion picture or mechanical, including photocopying and industry—Arab countries. I. Title. recording, or by any information storage and PN1993.5.A65A76 2010 retrieval system, without permission in writing 791.4302’320923927—dc22 from the publisher. The Association of American [B] University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions 2010007348 constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. 1 2 3 4 5 15 14 13 12 11 10 ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. For Annie But we suffer from an incurable disease called hope. Hope for liberation and independence. Hope for a normal life where we shall be neither heroes nor victims. Hope to see our children go to school without danger. Hope for a pregnant woman to give birth to a living baby, in a hospital, and not to a dead child in front of a military control post. Hope that our poets will see the beauty of the colour red in roses, rather than in blood. Hope that this land will recover its original name: land of hope and peace. Thank you for carrying with us this banner of hope. Mahmoud Darwish ContEnts acknowledgments xi note on Layout xiii list of Acronyms xv Introduction: Filmmaking in Divided Lands 1 Part 1 Dictionary of Filmmakers 33 Part 2 Feature-Film Chronologies 129 Part 3 Index of Feature-Film Titles 159 bibliography 191 ACknowledgMEnts Like its predecessor, the Dictionary of African of Arab Women Filmmakers (Cairo: American Filmmakers (Indiana University Press, 2008), University in Cairo Press, 2005); Hamid Da- this listing is essentially a work of synthesis. In bashi, “A Selected Filmography of Palestinian compiling it, I have drawn on the full range of Cinema (1927–2004),” in Dreams of a Nation: material listed in the bibliography at the end of On Palestinian Cinema (London: Verso, 2006); this volume. The principal published sources Rasha Salti, “Filmmakers’ Biographies,” in In- on which I have drawn, which demand special sights into Syrian Cinema: Essays and Conver- mention and which all contain more informa- sations with Contemporary Filmmakers (New tion on specific films and filmmakers than can York: Rattapallax Press / Arte East, 2006); be contained here, are, in order of publication: and Nurith Gertz and George Khleifi, “Film- Hassan Abû Ghanima, “Trente films palestini- ography,” in Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, ens” and “Filmographies,” in Guy Hennebelle Trauma and Memory (Edinburgh: Edinburgh and Khémais Khayati, eds., La Palestine et le University Press, 2008). cinéma (Paris: E.100, 1977); Claude-Michel Equally indispensable have been Ciné- Cluny, Dictionnaire des nouveaux cinémas mArabe (Paris, 1976–1979), International arabes (Paris: Sindbad, 1978); Shakir Nouri, Film Guide (London, 1964–2006, 2008–2010), “Répertoire chronologique des longs-métrag- Images Nord-Sud (Paris, from 1988), and the es irakiens (1945–1985),” in À la recherche du catalogues and web pages of various film festi- cinéma irakien, 1945–1985 (Paris: Éditions vals: the Arab Film Festival (Los Angeles, an- L’Harmattan, 1986); Ibrahim al-Ariss, Mouny nually from 1987); the Biennale des cinémas Berrah, Claude Michel Cluny, Jacques Lévy, arabes (Paris, biennally 1992–2006); the Lon- and Yves Thoraval, “Dictionnaire de 80 ciné- don Palestine Film Festival (2005–2006, 2008– astes,” in Mouny Berrah, Jacques Lévy, and 2009); the festival Jeunesse du cinéma arabe, Claude Michel Cluny, eds., Les cinémas arabes the Festival du film arabe, the Deuxième Festi- (Paris: Éditions Cerf and Institut du Monde val du film arabe, the Troisième Festival du film Arabe, 1987); Alberto Elena, El Cine del tercer arabe, La semaine du cinéma arabe (all Paris, mundo: Diccionario de realizadores (Madrid: 1983–1987); the Festival: images du monde Ediciones Turfan, 1993); Andrea Morini, Er- arabe (Paris, 1993); Il cinema dei paesi arabi, fan Rashid, Anna Di Martino, and Adriano Quarta edizione / Arab Film Festival (Naples, Aprà, Il cinema dei paesi arabi (Venice: Mar- 1997); the Dubai International Film Festival silio Editori, 1993); Hady Zaccak, “Filmogra- (from 2004); the Jordanian Short Film Festival; phies,” in Le cinéma libanais: itinéraire d’un the ArteEast Touring Program—Lens on Syria cinéma vers l’inconnu (1929–1996) (Beirut: (United States, 2006); the Middle East Interna- Dar el-Machreq, 1997); Sergio Di Giorgi and tional Film Festival (Abu Dhabi, from 2007); Joan Rundo, “1970–1998: Filmografia es- the Emirates Film Competition (annually from senziale,” in Una Terra promessa dal cinema: 2001), and the Dreams of a Nation website (on Appunti sul nuovo cinema palestinese (Paler- Palestinian cinema, New York). mo: Edizioni della Battaglia and La Luna nel Statistics concerning national size, popu- Pozzo, 1998); Rebecca Hillauer, Encyclopedia lation, and gross domestic product (GDP) are xii Acknowledgments taken from seven World Factfiles published as pecially Dee Mortensen, June Silay, and copy- daily supplements to the Guardian in 2009. editor Sarah Brown. Individuals to whom I owe a very real and Moreover, I am deeply grateful to the specific debt for information and encourage- Leverhulme Trust for awarding me the sec- ment (beyond the call of duty) are numerous. I ond Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship, which owe a huge debt to Martine Leroy, for access to has allowed me to finance both this dictionary her data base on Middle Eastern films. I have and its predecessor, the Dictionary of African also received stimulus, encouragement, and Filmmakers. help from Rasha Salti, Haim Bresheeth, Lina Though I have made every effort to check Khatib, Maysoon Pachachi, Hazim Bitar, Ab- the information given, errors and omissions dalla Mohammed Bastaki, Hana El Hirsi, Ros are inevitable in a work of this nature, and I Shotter, and Jaffar Mahajar. I am also endebt- would welcome contact from any readers who ed to the staff of Indiana University Press, es- can help correct the mistakes and fill the gaps. n AotE on l yout This dictionary concentrates primarily on the Carthage, Tunis, 2004, 2006, and 2008) show makers of fictional feature films and feature- the continued strength and importance of length documentaries, whose works are list- conventional 35mm filmmaking across Africa ed in the “Feature-Film Chronologies” and and the Arab world, as well as the growing cross-referenced in the “Index of Feature-Film number of works, even by established film- Titles.” But because filmmaking in this area makers, which are digitally produced and is so fragmented, I have also included in the reflect television formats: such as 52-minute listing of Arab filmmakers in part 1 over 900 documentaries and fictional works in a mini- short and documentary filmmakers from the series pattern of three 26-minute episodes.